No Ordinary Fairytale
by WideEyedDreamer01
Summary: VA meets a favorite Disney classic...Mulan! Join some familiar faces in this well known and loved adventure, with a few twists along the way! Please read and review, full summary inside!
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **So I had the idea for this story in my head for a while, but I couldn't figure out exactly how I wanted it to go. Now, I think I

have! I know it's a kind of wierd idea and maybe a strange pairing of stories, but I want to give it a go and see where it takes me. Come along for

the ride, and please leave me a review!

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**DISCLAIMER**: This is fanfiction. I own neither the Vampire Academy nor the Mulan story...if only! :)

**SUMMARY:**

_Vampire Academy meets a Disney favorite...Mulan! Join some familiar faces in this well-known and loved adventure, with a few twists along the way!_

_The year is 1420 and all is peaceful in the vampire kingdom. The Mori rule over the land is stable and strong. The empire's protectors, warriors known as Dhamphirs, have kept their kingdom safe against the Strigori, undead vampires who roam the world, for centuries. Yet times are becoming unsteady, and vicious attacks on their people show that war is brewing and the Strigori are up to their dastardly acts once again. _

_As armies are gathered and readied to wage war against this foe, a few unexpected warriors may mean the difference between success and failure-the difference between a fate filled with victory and strength, or one that sees the empire crumpling in the face of certain death..._

_This, my friends, is a story whose ending may not be happy. This is a story of the real world-my world, where people die and get hurt and betray their friends, where duty and honor triumph over love and friendship far too often. The world I relate to you is not fair, but instead cruel and harsh to any without the strength to weather it. This is not a story full of knights on white horses and beautiful princesses who kiss frogs. _

_This, I assure you, is no ordinary fairytale. _

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Please leave me a review and say if you think this is worth my while to continue. I've got lost's of other stories on the go but I

like this idea, and I'm prepared to commit to it if you people think it's worth it!

Em xx


	2. Chapter 1: The World Beyond the Gate

**AN: Thank you to the people who reviewed! I decided to put the first chapter up, hope you like it :)**

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It was dawn when I opened my eyes.

The half an hour after darkness had left, but the world wasn't quite stirring yet was my favourite, and today, like every day, I intended to make the most of it. It seemed as if the second after my feet hit the rough but well-worn timber floor, I was running. Running out of my small, warm bedroom, through our cramped but comfortable house where the barest hints of sunlight were beginning to throw shadows on the walls. Past my parent's room, then my grandparent's room, then the kitchen which, shrouded in near-darkness, seemed slightly eerie. And then finally I was out; I burst through the door and into the fresh spring morning that had an electric air and seemed to hold endless possibilities. Today, maybe I could be anything I wanted to. Today, maybe things would be different. I halted in the steps of the house to consider my surroundings, taking them in as if seeing everything around me for the very first time.

Our house was perched atop a gentle hill-if I stood on my tiptoes, I could see the acres of rolling hills, looking a green-grey with fresh dew, that led down to the imposing brick wall and gate where our property ended. The slumbering village was laid out neatly in the foothills, I could see it from here. I grinned, looking down upon it like a lord surveying all that was his. For once, I felt in charge. Important. Like I had something nobody else did. This time of the day was sacred, precious, and I was loath to waste one minute of it. I took off once again, my bare feet flying over the rough ground until I reached the barn. Most of its inhabitants were still asleep, some raising grunts of protest upon my arrival, but one was very much awake and waiting for me.

'Hi, Finn,' I breathed, and got a low whicker in return. Finn was a tall warm blood with a black mane and tail and a brown coat with four white socks and a bold blaze, and I'd raised him since the day he was born. We were inseparable, which was unusual for an animal, considering I'm a dhamphir. I strongly suspect he's more human than he is horse, with his lively, intelligent chocolate eyes and mischievous temperament.

'C'mon, buddy, time to fly,' I murmured, and, leading him out of his stall, tied a halter onto him and vaulted up. Soon as I was up, he took off, very much accustomed to our well-practiced routine. Out of the barn, down the path at a full gallop, leaving all cares behind. Sometimes, I liked to walk slowly around, relishing in the calm of the morning, but not today. Today, it was one of those mornings when I needed to feel alive. The tall iron gates of our property approaching, Finn turned on cue, thundering towards the slightly lower part of the wall that we could clear-at any rate it was a sizable jump; four-foot high and solid. We soared over it easily, and I bid my family home goodbye for the morning, bidding goodbye all the worries and expectations that came with it. _They'd have a fit if they knew I did this every morning,_ I thought to myself. _They'd tell me how it isn't proper, how a girl of my age_-I broke off from that thought as it soured my mouth, and I shook it off. _Don't think about it,_ I told myself. _Just for now, forget it all._ And as we rode through the laneways and countless paddocks, jumping anything that got in our way, I managed to do just that. As we rode towards the village the sun began to break until we rode directly into the sunrise, as if galloping to face whatever today had in store for us. Maybe it won't be so bad, I thought to myself, inspired by the beauty of this morning and the freedom of this moment to hope for a second. My practical, if but slightly narcissistic side shot that thought down within moments. _Of course it will. So shut up and enjoy this moment while you can_. I obliged to that voice, urging Finn ever faster until we reached the sign for the village, where we slowed to a walk.

'Good boy,' I cooed, giving him a pat on his now-steaming flank. 'I think we made record time, huh?' In the absence of our thundering footsteps I could hear others, coming from behind me and drawing ever nearer. I smiled, not needing to turn to face them, I knew exactly who it was. The clattering came closer, then I wheeled Finn around to face the newcomer. Vasalissa Dragomir, crown princess, second-in-line to the throne of the empire, and, most importantly, my best friend, looked up to grin at me.

'Morning, Rose.'

'Liss, I countered,' and was rewarded with a beaming smile. Unlike me, Lissa had bothered to get dressed, and had actually stuck a saddle on her mare Flossie, who was already flirting with Finn. The two had a love-hate relationship, and tried to maintain a human-like air of indifference to each other, but it was plain to see that they adored each other, and refused to be separated.

'Good ride?' She asked, and I grinned my reply as we walked steadily through the cobblestone streets.

'Race you to Ashford's. Mum wanted some bread. I bet I beat you.' With a mock-sneer and a bow to indicate she accepted my challenge, she took off, and together we weaved through the narrow streets, doing our best to wake up the entire town along the way, and giving a few pedestrians some minor heart attacks. The baker, a man by the name of John Ashford, my other best friend's father, saw us coming, and backed behind his shop counter, raising his hands. His shop was at the end of a one-way street-either we stopped in time, or we get to add demolishing a shop in three seconds flat to our list of achievements.

'Call it, Mr. Ashford, call it!' I yelled. I watched him cringe, getting ready to become a pancake, and I urged Finn a little ahead of Flossie. Our footsteps thundered onwards, coming to an abrupt, skidding halt just as Finn's nose touched the counter, Flossie right by his side. Mr Ashford opened his eyes in amazement, looking around him, unable to believe he was alive and his shop was still intact. Although he was getting on-well over fifty, maybe even getting close to sixty-he didn't look it, with dark hair and the same playful blue eyes his son had inherited. Like most in the village-saving Lissa and a few others he was a dhamphir. Dhamphir men were 'in service' from the age of twenty until they were forty-five, after which they were allowed to pursue other careers, like being a baker-or in my father's case, a farmer- and most of them did. The men attended training schools, educated in the arts of fighting, war, medecine-anything interesting, really, until they were called into service. The women, on the other hand-Lissa, probably sensing the dark shadow that had descended upon my mood, quickly gave Mr. Ashford a bright smile.

'Well?' Lissa asked eagerly, and he gulped.

'Eh, it was Rose.' He scowled, rubbing his head and looking pained. 'No, Lissa!' He sighed. 'Hell, girls, I have no idea.' We both groaned, and I grinned at Lissa, who winked back at me.

'You know what that means, Liss,' I told her.

'Re-trial!' She squealed, and we prepared to turn back around.

'No!' Ashford's voice called. 'No, girls, it was a draw. I'm sure of it'. I winked at Lissa.

'All right, I can live with that for now. We can always have a retrial down at the butcher's place.'

'Oh, don't girls, he's only just recovering from the last heart attack you gave him,' Mr. Ashford told us exasperatedly. 'Anyway. What'll it be?'

'The usual for me,' I told him, and glanced at Liss. 'D'you need anything?'

'Two pastries, please,' she said, beaming at the man, who handed them over free of charge-ever so typical for somebody under Lissa's charm. We strolled down the streets, munching on the sweet pastry and watching our world come alive, person by person. Shop shutters opened and people called out cheerful hello's to us as we passed. Seeing us around was a regular occurrence-we made a point of doing this nearly every morning to stretch our horses' legs. I fed Finn the lasts of my pastry as we arrived in the town square, and out of habit, I glanced up to the small stone building that served as the town hall, where all important things went on. A shudder went up my back as I remembered what would happen here today.

'Rose, listen to me,' Lissa said softly. 'It's going to be okay.'

'No it isn't,' I said, my voice quavering a little. 'It's not okay at all, Liss. How can you say that?' I demanded. 'I know you don't want to do this either.' She winced, knowing I was right. She hated the fact as much as I did.

'I don't want any part in this life,' I said fiercely. 'I'm not meant for it, and neither are you. Yet today, some stupid matchmaker is going to force us into it. That can't be the future, can it?' I asked her, hoping she would have some kind of answer I hadn't come across in my own endless sleepless nights of wracking my brains. She shook her head, trying to look determined and failing.

'Of course it's not, Rose,' she told me, trying to feign confidence. On a lesser mortal, it might have worked, but I had known Lissa since she was five, and there was no way it was going to work on me.

'So,' I drawled, trying to sound casual but unable to hide my panic. 'So, we're going to go in there, do a huge bunch of housewifery crap, get given a 'bride score' and then get sold off to the highest bidder. And I'm supposed to believe you when you say that the future is going to be fine?' I asked in exasperation, and Lissa's face fell. I sighed.

'I'm sorry, it's not you I'm mad at.' She smiled wryly, gathering her reins.

'Yeah, I know. C'mon, you're supposed to be a hell raiser around here. Aren't you?'

'Of course,' I snorted, and she gave me a wicked and slightly scary grin in return, one full of mischief.

'So, what makes today any different?' She asked. 'I'll bet they've never given anyone a score with a negative in front of it. Let's see if we can't change that, huh?' She snickered, and, without giving me the chance to reply, squeezed Flossie on, taking Finn with her.

'Race you to the wards!' She yelled, and I grabbed a handful of Finn's mane, grinning. Lissa knew exactly how to cheer me up, and even today, it was working. Lissa, as I said earlier, is a princess-whilst not a direct descendant from the Queen, Tatiana, she's the second-last of a powerful royal family called the Dragomirs. Mainly, nobody is bothered about her because she's the result of her late father's first marriage, whilst her brother from his second. Eric Dragomir, her father, married Lissa's mum for love, but then her brother's mother for respectability, so for the most part, people leave Lissa alone, just the way she likes it. She is second in line because she's a girl-even though she's older, her spoilt younger brother takes precedence because he's a goddamn boy. Lissa lives on a neighboring estate to me, with her uncle and aunt, and we have been best friends ever since I could remember, and it would stay that way forever.

She's a Mori, much taller and slimmer than the dhamphirs, and has two guardians of her own to protect her-guardians she is constantly giving the slip, with much help from me. They pretty much gave up trying to follow her around on the first day of school, when a kid tried to pick on her, and eight-year old me punched his face in. Ever since then, I've been somewhat of a informal guardian to her. Lissa's also a spirit user, meaning she has special abilities-rare and dangerous, I might add-that she's only just becoming brave enough to discovering. Every day, she was gaining more confidence-able to heal, to speak to people through their minds, to dream-walk, even to see briefly into the future, I mused, as the houses spaced out, became less dense, and Lissa's billowing cloak whipped in the morning wind. Once again, we flew away from the town, through pastures and fields once more, until we reached the gates of the village.

Unlike the ones we had so many times jumped over, these were over six feet tall, with sharp barbs on the end of were used to keep the strigori out during attacks, but they had never been needed, so I was more strongly of the opinion that their main purpose was to keep Lissa and I in instead. _Call me a pessimist, but whatever._ Finn and I stood stock still, staring out behind the bars of the gate, straining my eyes to see what was on the other side. Even though the countryside was the same-rolling hills, a river, some forest, it had a tangibly dangerous feel to it, something forbidden, exclusive. Something I would never had. I heard the bell tower toll six times behind us, and the sound I so often found beautiful seemed ominous and foreboding today.

'Rose,' Lissa called softly, her words hanging in the air, seeming almost like a warning. She didn't need to add the rest-the _'you know what will happen if they catch us out here.'_ I sighed, tearing my gaze away from the world beyond the gate, and turning Finn for home. I met Lissa's eyes, and nodded as we fell into step once more.

My morning was over, and now it was time to face the day ahead.

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**AN: So that's the first chapter. Expect a DPOV coming up int he next chapter, reviews are always welcomed! **

**Em xx**


	3. Chapter 2: A Single Grain of Rice

**Sorry for a bit of a lag between updates, but here's the next chapter. Apologies if it's a bit boring, there will be more drama in the next one. Enjoy!**

**DPOV**

By anyone's standards, the capital on market day was a hive of bustling activity, but today the number of people on the cobbled streets-and the speed they were going at-seemed especially ridiculous. Throngs of people pushed past one another, shopping bags in hand, often fighting carts and horses for right of way and receiving much abuse in return. Nobody, I observed, seemed to care they ran the risk of getting run over. Every face I saw was pale and drawn as the people moved fast, taking care to keep together even on this bright, seemingly innocent spring morning. The recent strigori attacks on the border was foremost in every mind-nobody wanted to be the next victim, and everybody wanted to be home before dark, a feat that I knew would prove impossible. With a little bit of amusement I nudged Alikino, my horse, onwards. On an ordinary day, most pedestrians found us an imposing pair-she was tall, about seventeen and a half hands, stockily built, and extremely grumpy. She liked having space, and today, she wasn't getting it-something she was clearly not happy about, as seen by the fact that her ears were flattened against her skull, her teeth no doubt bared incase any should come within biting range. Pushing through the crowd I spotted Stan astride his own dapple grey, who seemed to be giving a disinterested passerby a lecture.

'Stan,' I said curtly, rescuing the passerby from a slow but sure death via boredom. He shot me a glare, clearly displeased at being interrupted, but then gave me a quick nod, brushing off his cloak and haughtily drawing himself up to his full-yet hardly imposing-height.

'Belikov. You're late. Mikhail will be expecting us.' I rolled my eyes but said nothing, something I knew was sure to irritate him. We moved towards the castle that sat at the top of the hill where we were to be seeing my uncle, Mikhail, who was the captain of the guards. Stan, even though astride his horse, hardly seemed fit to be the royal scribe, made up for his lacking in imposing-ness with a distinctly pretentious nature. Why they even let him out of the castle was a mystery to me, and it was commonly agreed among the dhamphir men that he suffered from acute little man syndrome. I nodded to the two dhapmhirs guarding the gate, and we tied our horses in the courtyard and made our way to the guardhouse, a tall, strong building of grey stone that looked out on the city below. A similar grey wall ran along the outskirts of the city, after which the marshes and farms could be seen.

'Dimitri! Stan!' Mikhail's cheerful voice called. In spite of the grim reasons for us being here, I smiled, always glad to see my uncle. He shook hands with both of us, and nodded at me.

'You're well?' He asked. I nodded in reply, and he smiled. 'I heard from your mother a week ago, your family is well.'

'When you're finished with domestic matters, I'd like to get on to the problem at hand,' Stan said snottily, making Mikhail's mouth twitch in amusement.

'Very well. I have today received orders from the War Advisory that we are to begin to make preparations for war. The Strigori army is coming, and it's coming fast and hard. I have been asked in consultation if conscription is a good idea.'

'How long until they think it will be war?' I asked heavily. His face turned even grimmer, and he ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. He looked tired and pale-no doubt the attacks were taking their toll on him.

'As you know, it's uncommon for strigori to hunt in large numbers. It is believed that the attacks we are seeing now will grow more frequent until autumn. As the days begin to grow shorter, it is almost certain there will be war.' There was silence as we all contemplated this.

'There's enough time for conscripted dhamphirs to be trained,' I said, breaking the silence. 'But it's impractical to call up every single able-bodied man-and what's more, they have spies, they'll know we're preparing.' Stan sneered at me.

'So, what do you suggest, Belikov?' I gritted my teeth, his attitude grating on my nerves. Though my cool exterior showed no emotion, I had little internal tolerance for officers who sat on their rear and had no idea what it was like actually out in the field. Stan was both, and what was more, he was just one of those people everyone wanted to punch for some reason or another.

'I suggest that one man from each family is called up and put into training camp. That way it's a large enough number, but there's enough people left to keep agriculture up.' Mikhail's smile widened as he nodded at me.

'That's exactly what I was thinking. Now, Dimitri, I want you to go to north. There's a training facility up there, it isn't used much now but it was one of the best. It's called St Vladimirs, and I want you to be in charge of it.' I blinked in surprise.

'Me?'

'Yes, you. You're one of the best we have, and your knowledge will be put to good use there, Captain.' Stan gave a start.

'Did you just say Captain?' He asked incredulously. Mikhail smiled.

'Yes. It's a long overdue promotion, and very well deserved.' I was at a complete loss for words as both of the men stared at me, one in skepticism, the other with pride. I stumbled to find the correct words to say, much to the amusement of my uncle.

'This...this is a great honor,' I managed. 'I won't disappoint you, sir.' He nodded wryly.

'Yes, I know. Now, Stan, you will accompany Dimitri north. You'll also take a mage and a healer with you. You'll be handling the conscripts from the north and the northwest villages. As you know, St. Vladimirs is close to the border, so it will be imperative it's guarded by wards and men. I expect as the seasons wear onwards, you'll be joined by much of the army, along with me and my men.' He rose, offering me his hand, which I shook.

'Gather what you need and get to St. Vladimirs as quickly as possible. Send word once you're there. You'll probably have a day or two to set up camp before your conscripts start to arrive.'

'I shall arrange for the conscription notices to be sent out in every village,' Stan said stiffly, and made Mikhail-who struggled to stifle a snort of derision a rather flouncy bow.

'Take care, Dimitri,' Mikhail said gravely. 'Keep your eyes open.'

'You too,' I told him. 'I'll see you come fall.' With a nod, we parted and I turned, walking briskly back to the headquarters where I stayed, already making a mental note of the things I would need. I groaned internally, hearing the clatter of Stan's footsteps quickly behind me, already admonishing me for one thing or the other. What, I could hardly care less. Stan Alto on my heels for the next months was not something I needed, but from what I could gather, his presence was something I'd just have to suck up, there was little I could do about it. At any rate I was hardly able to complain, Mikhail had just given me a massive promotion and I knew that I couldn't let him down in any way. I'd admit that I would have much rathered being out in the field with my peers actually fighting the undead bastards, instead of spending time teaching insolent northerners how to, but as St. Vladimirs was close to the border we'd probably be perceived as an easy target, so I was sure it wouldn't all be smooth sailing. I was crossing the courtyard when I heard a deep voice call my name.

'Dimitri Belikov,' the voice intoned, and I turned to see one of the Royal Seers-I believed his name was Ambrose.

'Good morning,' I said warily, and the pale Mori smiled at me, revealing his fangs, and beckoned me to a little alcove. Informing Stan I'd see him later, I followed the man, who kept looking around in suspicion as if he feared being followed. Once he was satisfied we were alone, he turned his bright blue eyes on me solemnly.

'I have Seen things about you,' he told me. I shifted uncomfortably. My grandmother, although a dhamphir, had a similar gift, but she had always told us never to ask about these kind of things. The whole the-future-is-best-left-unknown thing. I respected her gift immensely, but it frustrated my whole family when she would go around muttering little bits of mysticism and nothing more. In any case, I figured I had to be polite to the man, lest he have the power to turn me into a frog or something. So, I nodded politely.

'Oh?' I asked. His face darkened.

'Yes. Some good, some bad. If you promise to heed it, I should like to give you some advice.' I shrugged my shoulders, then nodded. Pretty much anything was better than spending time in Alto's company, even a mumbo-jumbo spouting Seer had to be better. He hesitated for a moment, then paused as if to collect his thoughts.

'Be not hasty to turn away an unlikely warrior,' he told me quietly. 'A single grain of rice may tip the scales in or out of your favor. Do you understand?' I frowned, utterly lost, but, seeing the eager way the Seer was regarding me, I nodded, summoning what enthusiasm I could.

'Very well. Thank you for your advice.' With a faint smile that seemed a little too knowing for my liking, he nodded, dusting off his ornate robes, and turned to leave, but then paused.

'Good luck, Captain. Oh, and one more thing. Sometimes, Dimitri, one's dreams reveal much more of the truth that does the light of day. All may not be as it seems.' With a wink, the man strode off, his cloak billowing behind him in the faint breeze, leaving me staring confusedly behind him. _How did he know?_ I thought to myself. _How did he know about the girl who plagued my dreams_? That must be what he was meaning, I could think of nothing else it could be.

For the past week I had had strange dreams about a girl, a beautiful girl with dark hair who was always riding a dark-coloured horse. The dream would happen on a more, and she would be riding towards me at high-speed. She always seemed to be trying to tell me something I felt was important, but I could never hear the words. I had originally disregarded it, as the dream never lasted long, but the Seer's words had made me remember it, and struggle for more details. Who, then, was this girl, and what did she have to tell me? And what did he mean, 'all may not be what it seems'? After a few moments of thought, I chuckled to myself. It was coincidence, no more. immediately, I dismissed the man's strange words, but try as I might, I was unable to banish the strange girl from my thoughts for the rest of the day.

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**So it felt really wierd to write Dimitri and I struggled trying to get a medieval feel to it...Most of the chaps will be RPOV, with a few small DPOVs at important moments. Hope you enjoyed, next chapter within a day or two!**

**Em xx**


	4. Chapter 3: Who I Am Inside

**Yay, next chapter! Don't forget to leave some love :)**

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'Rosemarie Mazur!' My mother's voice bellowed up the stairs, making me wince. 'You get a move on this instant, young lady.'

'Ughh,' I groaned, drawing the blanket tighter around me as I sat on the window sill. After Lissa and I had finished this morning, I'd found my house still quiet, so I'd done my chores and sat half in, half out the window for about an hour. But day had well and truly broken now, and there was no avoiding it. I was shaken from my reviere with the sound of clattering footsteps coming up the stairs, and before I could scramble back in off the roof, my mother opened my bedroom door.

'Rose!' She admonished. 'Get away from there and get into the bath, you are filthy. What have you been doing, rolling around in the mud?'

'Something like that, yeah,' I muttered, swinging my legs onto the floor and tossing the blanket back onto my bed. My mother crossed to the window and slammed it shut, locking it tightly. I swallowed hard. I was locked indoors, as I would be for pretty much the remainder of my life. Panic rose in my stomach as I fought to keep calm, fought to keep pretending my freedom wasn't draining away from me every single second. My mother, who was intimidating though much shorter than me, steered me towards the bathroom.

'In, now. I'll be back in half an hour to help you get dressed.'

'I look forward to it,' I smarted off, and, with a scowl, she left the room. I let myself relax into the hot water, clearing my thoughts for a while, but eventually they circled back towards my mother. I shuddered. I did not want to end up like her, but it seemed inevitable. My mother in her time had been bright, a fantastic horsewoman and runner, but her parentshad been strict and refused to recognise her potential for anything besides baking puddings and knitting stockings. From the age of fifteen, after she had finished at the local finishing school, she had served as a 'guardian' to a local Mori. The only thing was, female guardians were little more than glorified ladies-in-waiting, and I had told my mother that rather flatly when she had asked me if it was something I'd wanted to do when I got myself kicked out of finishing school on the second day, Lissa in tow. I smiled faintly at the memory. After being a guardian for five or six years, mom had married my father early-though unlike most, she had married for love-and then spent her life indoors, as it was considered improper for her to seek a job with a daughter to raise. I didn't see how she could do it-give up her passions for what was right, to suffer a life inside when it wasn't true to herself. I sighed to myself as I thought with grim good humor that I was about to find out for myself. A rap on the door startled me, and I groaned. That time had passed far, far too quickly, and now my mother and our maid, Macey, would be waiting to help me into the clown costume.

'Coming,' I muttered, throwing on a robe. Once I stepped out of the bathroom I was assaulted by a variety of towels, hairbrushes, powders and perfumes as I was tugged and squeezed into a flouncy red dress. My hair was dried into its usual loose waves, hanging halfway down my back, and by the time they were finished, it was the only natural-looking thing about me. As I tottered unsteadily to the mirror in high danger of passing out from lack of air, what was reflected back to me was an alien. The reflection was one of a girl in an elegant red dress with pale, flawless skin, mascara-ridden eyes and rose-red lipstick. It wasn't me, it was nothing like me.

'You look fine,' my mother said briskly. 'Come on, let's get you to the carraige.' Silently, I walked down, knowing that when I returned to this place, it would not be as a child, but as a woman with a price on her head. I felt sick to my stomach, sick that I had to do this, that this was all I had to offer. The journey into town was quick, and in the square I joined a gaggle of girls who were talking excitedly about the goings-on, all similarily dressed to me. I, however, was the only one wearing an actual color, all the rest in pastel pink or white. I shouldered past staring people as the brides-to-be made our way towards the matchmaker's building.

'Hey, watch it,' I snapped to one passerby who dug his elbow into my side. I was met with a familiar lopsided grin, and recognised Mason Ashford, one of my dearest friends.

'You should practice talking nice, Rosie,' he told me, and I rolled my eyes.

'Shouldn't you be doing something?'

'Yeah, probably,' he shrugged, his eyes twinkling. 'But the whole town ground to a halt when you arrived, you're jsut so beautiful.'

'You sicken me,' I muttered, and he grinned wider.

'Hey look, it's your partner in crime.' I spun, relieved to see Lissa dashing up behind me. She was wearing a soft sky blue gown, her platinum blonde hair curled to perfection.

'Hey,' she winked. 'Sorry I'm late.'

'A good wife is never tardy,' Mason intoned deeply, making both of us swing around and punch him. Wheezing, he waved us off, mouthing a good-luck.

'Liss,' I muttered, finding her hand and squeezing it as my apprehension mounted.

'I know, I know,' she murmured. 'Just breathe. It'll be okay.' The group of us-there must have been about six or so- arrived at the matchmaker's place, a small, ordinary building. There was a man with a scroll outside of it who checked all of our names against it. Looking around, I realised that a substantial crowd had gathered.

'There's so many people,' Lissa whispered.

'Yeah, I guess the executions always draw pretty big crowds,' I muttered back, and she grinned a dimple appearing in her cheek.

'Shh!' The reader said in irritation, making Lissa and I laugh louder. A red-haired girl was called in first, entering looking slightly apprehensive, but she left about ten minutes later with a smile on her face. The other three followed, until only Lissa and I were next. As the man cleared his throat, my heart began to pound so loud I thought that the whole entire crowd could hear it.

'Rosemarie Mazur,' he called, and I froze.

'Go, Rose, Lissa whispered. Give 'em hell.' I nodded faintly, following the reader inside, leaving the outside world behind me forever. The doors opened, and then swung shut as the reader left, leaving me alone to meet my matchmaker. The room was dark and smelled of old, cheap and sickly sweet perfume, illuminated only by a few candles. I realised once my eyes adjusted that the matchmaker was sitting in a low chair facing me, and that in front of her was a table and a cushion where I presumed I was supposed to sit.

'Rosemarie Mazur,' she said, her voice slightly gravelly as she stood up. She was a tall, imposing woman with elegant salt and pepper hair wearing a stiff black gown, the absoloute picture of primness. Her name was Mistress Kirivoa, and she was absoloutely ancient. She had been in this town for as long as anyone could remember, and seemed to take great pleasure in being the biggest killjoy ever to walk the face of the earth.

'Yeah, that's me,' I said with a shrug, and her eyes narrowed. Clearly, we were going to get along like a house on fire. She crossed to the blinds and threw them back, allowing some sunlight into the room. Then she turned and studied me with a sharp gaze of a hawk, one that made me want to shrink.

'You are not skinny. That is good,' she commented. 'You will bear your future husband many strong, healthy children.'

'Not if I can help it,' I muttered, and she sneered at me, continuing her examination of my dress, my hair and my face as if I were a piece of meat she was about to buy from the butcher's shop. She came closer, studying me, and the smell of her heavily powdered face nearly enough to make me sneeze.

'As for your looks, she continued, I have seen far prettier.' She looked at me tauntingly and I shrugged again, unwilling to let her get a rise out of me.

'Well, you know what they say. Looks aren't everything.' She looked at me skeptically.

'Women who believe that die old crones.'

'But you don't believe that. And you're an old crone,' I blurted out, satisfied when she turned an interesting shade of purple, stepping closer towards me.

'Miss Mazur, your father is a good man, you come from a respectable family. You did not attend finishing school, so I am prepared to ignore your last comment.' I glared at her, holding her steely gaze for a moment. She knew I loved my father, it was common knowledge, and so she was holding the threat of dishonoring him over my head. It occurred to me all of a sudden how passionately I hated her.

'Now, she said smugly, looking almost like a cat. Recite the second paragraph of the Good Wife Handbook.' A smile twitched on my lips as I recalled the day my mother had bought that book for me.

'The Good Wife Handbook?' I said slowly. 'Oh, yeah. That was the one that made really, really excellent kindling.' I paused. 'Or was it toilet paper? I can't remember.' She exhaled loudly, her fingers curling into fists momentarily before she guestured to the table where a pot of tea and two cups sat waiting.

'Pour the tea,' she said through gritted teeth. I walked over to the pot, and she sat down facing me. I grasped the handle, and she made a tsking noise, which irritated me. As I began to pour, she made the sound again, and then when I lifted it away, she did it yet again. I looked up, exasperatedly, then slammed the teapot down on the table.

'Honestly, I could give a rat's arse, it's just a cup of tea, woman.'

'How dare you insult me in such a manner!' She shrieked, and I shoved the cup towards her.

'Here, have a cup. It tastes excatly the same no matter how you pour it,' I hissed. She didn't take it from me, and instead the cup went all down her dress, and she stood, overturning the table as she did. The contents of the table shattered into a million pieces, and she grabbed my hair, dragging me towards the door.

'You will pay for that,' she breathed. I snickered.

'Whatcha gonna do, wave your fan at me?' I taunted, thouroughly enjoying myself by this point. I winced as her grip on my hair tightened to a vice.

'Ow, let go, you fastidios old bitch!' I yelled, and her grip slackened in shock. There was a moment of silence before she lunged for me and I sidestepped, but she caught the corner of my dress and both of us were knocked out the door, down off the steps, collecting all the other girls and the reader as we went. There were gasps and murmurs from the crowd as I shoved her away from me, pleased to see that the dust we had rolled in had stuck to her dress because of the tea she'd got all down herself. I looked around, and saw a frozen crowd, my mother's face the picture of horror, Mason's looking unsurprised. Lissa, on the other hand, looked like a kid on christmas- all of her wishes had clearly just come true.

'Hey, Miss,' she said, breaking the silence. 'Whatever score you're giving her, I want the same one.' That was when the matchmaker exploded.

'This girl is a demon!' She yelled, pointing a shaking finger at me. 'Rude, and arrogant and completely ill-mannered.' I snickered.

'Really? I called you a fastidious old bitch and the best you've got is _ill mannered_?'

'She will never have a husband. She will never be respectable,' the woman said in a trembling voice. 'She dishonors her family irrevocably.' I sneered at her.

'Yeah, whatever, Kirivoa. Bite me.' She sneered back cruelly, looking me up and down pointedly.

'Well, Miss Mazur, that is probably all you're good for. You'd be better off a blood whore than an utter disgrace.' A collective gasp went through the crowd, and my blood ran cold. My hands clenched into fists, and I took a step towards her.

'Take it back,' I said, quite calmly. She smirked at me.

'Everyone knows it's true. Besides, you wouldn't dare to touch me.'

'Really? Are you sure?' I hissed, then, taking a flying leap, tackled her to the ground. The woman screamed, flailing wildly.

'Nobody-calls-me-a-blood-whore!' I growled. 'Understand?' She made a noise that sounded almost like a snarl, her nails biting into my wrists. Suddenly, I felt hands in my shoulders, wrenching me backwards and away from her. I struggled to free myself of them, but couldn't; realising it was Mason, and he was much stronger than me, I relented. The reader held Kirivoa away from me, who managed to compose herself enough and shook herself away from him.

'Mase, it's fine. Let go,' I hissed. 'I promise, I won't kill her unless she starts it.' Reluctantly, he let go of me, but stayed close.

'You are an utter'-she began, and I rolled my eyes.

'Disgrace, dishnonor, yeah, I get it,' I drawled, and then brightened. 'Oh! You know what, I just remembered what it says in that part of the Good Wife Handbook.' She sneered at me.

'And what does it say?' I paused, meeting Lissa's gaze, and we shared a grin.

'It says kiss my arse,' I informed her, and swept her a curtesy. 'Good day to you, ma'am,' I trilled in a sickly sweet posh voice. Before she could retort, I felt Mason push me away from her, back through the crowd to our carraige-my mother had dissapearred by now.

'Come on, let's get you out of here before they lynch you,' Mase muttered, and I grinned. He helped me up int the carraige, and then Lissa, and then sighed, shutting the door.

'Honestly, you two. We can't take you anywhere, can we?'

'Damn straight,' we said in unison, and Mason shook his head tiredly, signalling to the carraige driver to move on.

'That,' Lissa said, after a fashion, 'was freaking amazing. We could hear all the banging and smashing while you were inside, and then when you crashed out of the door...Priceless,' she told me, a huge grin on her face, but it faded. 'Your mom's going to kill you,' she told me, and I nodded my head grimly.

'Yeah, I know. There will be hell to pay for this,' I groaned. 'But it was worth it.' She nodded, giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

'I'll see you soon. If they lock you inside, I'll come calling. They never refuse me, even when they're mad at you.' I nodded back, so grateful that she was on my side. I walked up the the house on my own, and saw my mother waiting on the front steps. Her arms were crossed tightly, and her eyes were narrowed and dark. To put it mildly, she was pissed off. I felt the sting of her hand on my cheek much before I realised what had happened. It didn't hurt that much, I'd had worse from Lissa, and I knew that in her eyes I probably deserved it.

'She is right. You are a disgrace,' she told me coldly. 'I suppose some of the fault is mine. I did not make you go back to finishing school. I let you run free.' She shook her head, her expression icy. 'Not any more. Things will be different for you now.' She turned and dissapearred into the house. Just as quickly as she had gone, my father appearred. He looked tired, but his expression wasn't as cold as my mothers.

'Kiz,' he sighed.

'I couldn't do it,' I told him quietly. He nodded, giving me a crooked smile.

'So I see. It's alright, Kiz. I only wish'...He trailed off.

'That I was better?' I offered. He shook his head, chuckling.

'No. I only wish that I had been there. You have a fierce heart, kiz, and I have always believed that is a good thing. But your mother is right,' he sighed. 'Things must change. You are too old to be hot-headed now,' he told me, and with a small, sad smile, turned away and went back in to the house. I felt cold. Even he was dissapointed that I hadn't just let her stomp all over me, make me into something I wasn't-he tried not to show it, but I knew it was the truth.

I sighed, feeling sick, sick to my very heart. I didn't want to go in just yet, and instead trudged around to the garden, shedding the layers of clothing until I was left barefoot in a pair of stockings and a loose undershirt. I found myself by the little pond, sitting under a willow tree and relishing in the silence, the peace. It was with nature that I found myslef most at ease-because here, there was nobody to tell me who I ought to be. I glanced down into the water, and saw a very different reflection to the one I had seen only hours earlier. The pale facepaint was all fone, as was most of the lipstick. My hair was unruly, hanging around my shoudlers rebelliouslly. This reflection was theone that showed who I was inside. I sighed, looking away from myself. That was who I was-no more, no less. I didn't want to live my life according to what other people thought I should be. I had always known that marraige wasn't going to be a vocation I would excel at. But if that was true, then what would I excel at? I had realised, in growing up, that a person's vocation was what defined them. Housewives, guardians, butchers, farmers, maids. What, then, was mine to be? I sat in silence for a long time under the shade of the old tree pondering excatly that.

Then, all of a sudden, as if in reply to my question, I heard a trumpet sound in the distance. But this was no ordinary trumpet, everyone knew what it meant. It was the sound that signalled war was coming.

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	5. Chapter 4: How It Began

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My breath caught in my throat. I had only ever heard that sound once before, when the village scouts thought they'd seen a band of strigori lurking in the woods. The events of today now long forgotten, I raced back into the house, where my parents were standing on the porch. I glanced between both of them, unable to discern the emotion on their faces.

'It is a royal scribe, my father said gruffly. Whatever this is about, they will gather in the square.' And just like that, without so much as a word, both of them hurried down to our gates. My mother spared me a fleeting glance, and I thought I saw a slight smile on her face before she quashed it.

'Change, if you're coming,' she told me, and in a flash, I raced back into the house, pulling on a pair of tights, some boots and a tunic, throwing my red cloak over my shoulder and racing down the path. I got to the square, and was blocked by a pudgy dhamphir man wearing the royal insignia on his cloak.

'No women,' he told me gruffly. Instead of letting this irk me, I flashed him a smile.

'Good thing I'm not a woman then, huh? I faked a wary glance around. You might want to get out of here before they catch _you_.' His partner, a slightly older and slimmer man with dark hair and piercing blue eyes laughed.

'Don't be seen,' the second one advised me. I grinned, and disappeared into the crowd. A short, kind of stumpy looking guy that had an air of importance was standing in the centre of the square.

'I bring a message, he declared in a nasally, irritating voice. Come winter this year, this kingdom will be at war with the Strigori.' Several murmurs and gasps echoed around the hall, and the man continued, seeming satisfied with this response.

'By royal decree, one male from each family shall be conscripted into the Royal Army.' I felt as if a bucket of icewater had been dropped on me. My father, sent to fight the strigori? My thoughts flew to the injury on his left shoulder, one that often gave him great trouble. He wouldn't last. What's more he was getting old-nearly sixty, and though dhamphirs were renowned for their hardiness, he'd been starting to lose weight, he wasn't as strong as he used to be.

'Now,' the scribe called. By this point, I had decided that he was just one of those people everyone wanted to punch for some reason.

'The first family is...Ashford!' I watched in horror as Mr. Ashford stepped forwards to collect the scroll offered to him, but at the last moment a hand knocked it away and Mason stepped out from behind him, his face grim.

'I will take my father's place,' he told the scribe, with a face void of expression.

'Mase,' I breathed, watching him collect it and fade back into the shadows. My mind blurred, unable to comprehend this, and I was only brought back into reality when I heard a familiar name.

'Miller!'

'Oh, no,' I murmured. The lady standing next to me tsked in agreement.

'I know. Awful, isn't it?' Mr 'Dusty' Miller was about seventy years old-he and his wife worked up at Lissa's place. His wife, Jemima, was Lissa's nursemaid when she was younger, and although the pair of us had taken great delight in tormenting her, we loved her dearly and she was more of a mother to me than mine had ever been.

'This isn't fair, I hissed. What kind of chump thinks up a plan like this?' The woman nodded in agreement, but her face twisted dryly in amusement.

'Careful, lass, that's probably treason.' I rolled my eyes.

'What isn't these days?' The crowd watched Mr. Miller limp up to get his scroll, nearly tripping on the steps but regaining himself. All eyes were on him as he made his way back to his wife, who was pale but composed, and the pair of them disappeared. The scribe spared not a mite of emotion, and moved on to the next name.

'Mazur,' he called. I saw my father push through the circle, gruffly collecting his own scroll. In his day, he'd been one of the best fighters in the north, but wounds and age and a lifetime of hard work had aged him. As if for the first time, I looked at him, taking in everything. The slight limp, the stiffness in his gait, the grey becoming more and more pronounced in his hair, the lines on his face. I shuddered. I couldn't watch this any more. I turned on my heel, pushing past the crowds, and ran the mile back to my house.

'Rose!' I heard a voice yell my name, and kept on running. 'Rose. Rose!' It got closer. I saw Mason sprinting towards me, covering the ground between us and I slammed into him, feeling his arms come around me.

'Rose, it's going to be okay,' he told me gently.

'How can you say that? I yelled, ripping myself from his embrace. He's going to die, Mase. You're going to die,' I said fiercely. A small smile twitched at his lips.

'So little faith?' He said dryly, and I glared.

'Mase, this isn't a game. This is war.' He sighed, then smiled smally.

'I know, Rosie. That's why I've got to make light of it.'

'Ass,' I mumbled. He turned his eyes on me with such a look I couldn't help but melt.

'Do me a favor?' He asked, his eyes shining hopefully. I sighed, exasperated.

'Name it.'

'Watch out for Jill for me.' Jill was Lissa's younger sister, she had een seeing Mason for about a year in secret. I nodded silently, and he ruffled my hair in thanks.

'Don't,' I warned him, which made him chuckle. We reached my gates and stopped, turning to face each other.

'I'm leaving tonight,' he told me, and I nodded.

'Don't...Don't get yourself killed.'

'Likewise.' I frowned.

'You're the one going off to war. There's no way I can get myself killed,' I said, my voice full of bitterness. He rolled his eyes, giving me a familiar lopsided smile.

'I'm sure you'll find a way.' We paused, and, knowing this could be the last chance I ever got, I studied him thoroughly.

'Don't die, I warned him. Or I'll kill you.' He grinned, pulling me in for a warm hug, and gave me a firm kiss on the cheek.

'Duly noted. You take care, Mazur. And don't be bitter.' I snorted.

'Rose, you'd do the same thing that I'm doing, if only you could,' he told me. I groaned.

'Yeah, I know. Go, I said, shooing him. Go, go kick some strigori ass.' He grinned at me.

'I'll bring you back a head,' he advised me.

'You better. Awh, c'mere,' I sighed, and gave him a kiss. He blinked, shaking his head, then seemed to recover himself.

'A kiss from Rosemarie Mazur. I can now die a happy man.'

'But you're not going to die,' I threatened, and he grinned sheepishly, holding up his hands.

'Right, right.' And with that we parted, I was still smiling as I slipped back in the gates. My somewhat cheerful mood withered and died in the space of about three seconds once I got into my own house, seeing my mother and father sitting at the table. The scroll was still on the table, and both of them turned to look at me.

'I will leave in the morning,' he told me quietly.

'Baba,' I whispered, and he opened his arms to me. When we broke away, my sadness made way for frustration, which quickly turned into anger.

'It's not fair! I yelled, and the table shook. You shouldn't have to go, you've already served in one stupid war!' About thirty years ago, my father had fought in what was known as the Northern War, but it had never been fully recognised as a war, just a massive attack. That was where he had been injured. His jaw tightened, and his infamous stubborness-one that was apparently hereditary-came through.

'Rosemarie, I have made my decision.'

'To get killed?' I sniped.

'What other choice is there? He said quietly. I will go, and it will be an honor to fight for my kingdom. You will not argue with me, kiz,' he told me. I gritted my teeth. It was a pride thing, I knew that fully well. He was a stubborn, stubborn man, and he'd get himself killed if it was for the right thing.

'Ugh!' I screamed, and, kicking over a chair as I went, slammed myself into my room. I lay face down on my bed, and, instead of crying-which I'd long believed to be a worthless pursuit-began to do what I did best: plot. But there was nothing. It was hopeless. There was zilch I could do, I was helpless. If only I could...I paused, sitting up straight. What was that Mason had said? Rose, you would do exactly what I'm doing, if only you could. My eyes widened at the prospect. I could take his place. I could volunteer.

Why had I not thought of it before? Oh yeah, probably because I was a girl. But I'd never had any regard for rules in my entire life-and this was hardly the time to start changing. I glanced at the clock. It was midnight, they would be asleep. With shaking fingers, I packed things I knew ought to fit into a saddlebag, and changed into the men's clothes I wore when riding. It was spring, but I packed a warm jacket and my cloak for colder weather. A pair of leggings, some boots and a tunic would be my staple, so I wore that and took two spares. But...I looked down, hit by a thought. For a young woman, I was quite well-endowed, and it would be pretty hard to hide. Then I remembered the corset I wore often when riding that bound my chest-it would be perfect, and virtually invisible. Problem solved.

I crept into my parent's room and retrieved my father's scroll, and the stake he had laid out next to his packed bag. He looked so peaceful when sleeping, but also so...Old. I had to do this, there was no other alternative. Once I had everything I needed, I ran a hand through my hair. It would be a problem. If cut short and shaggy, it was possible it wouldn't look like me, but it would be a gamble. Especially if there were people at the camp who might recognise me. I sighed. It was a chance I'd just have to take. A tap at my window nearly made me jump out of my skin. I opened the window and Lissa jumped in, landing silently like a cat. Her green eyes shone with a mixture of excitement and disapproval.

'I know what you've doing, she told me, breathing hard. And I can't let you.' I bit my lip.

'Liss, I have to do it. It's the only way.' She grinned.

'Yeah, I know. You didn't let me finish. I can't let you do it...Alone. Come on, I got Finn tacked for you.' Openmouthed, I followed her back out the window.

'Liss, you don't have to do this, I hissed. You don't have a family to cover for.' She grinned, waving a scroll.

'I stole it from Mr. Miller. He now has a illegitimate grandson.'

'You are crafty. No wonder you're a royal,' I muttered, and she dug me in the ribs playfully.

'Hurry up, Rose. She paused. Wait, who are you going to be?'

'I'm going to be Tom Hathaway, I said. Tom was my cousin, and Hathaway was my mother's maiden name. Nobody will know him, mainly because he isn't born yet.' His parents-my mom's brother and his wife, who lived a town over-were so sure the baby would be a boy, they'd already named him. Lissa frowned.

'Doesn't explain why you've got a Mazur scroll.'

'I'm volunteering for my uncle,' I said with a shrug. She narrowed her eyes.

'Ever thought that you might run into your fake 'Dad?' I grinned.

'No, he's no fighter. His other son Sam will have volunteered for him, and he'll be in another camp. St. Vlads is only for the North and North-West, he's the north east. If he needs to, Sam'll cover for me. I wrote to him.' Lissa eyed me.

'Gosh, and you call me crafty,' she mumbled. I snickered, and was then hit by a thought.

'Liss, we've got to cut our hair.' She smirked.

'Oh, no we don't. Spirit conceals, remember?' She raised a hand, and I ducked.

'No way are you using any of that freaky magic on me. Last week you exploded a chicken.'

'It was old, Lissa protested, her eyes dancing. No, Rose, this is a really easy spell. It'll just slightly alter the way you look.'

'What if I get stuck that way?' She grinned.

'Rose, you're stunning as a girl. I wager you're going to be one fine-lookin' young man.'

'I can't believe I'm doing this, I muttered. Okay, do it.' A strange warmth filled me, and I saw my hair disappear, felt my features shift, and I shivered, then watched Lissa's do the same. Her hair was at a ear-length blunt bob, but her features had shifted just enough so she looked like a guy. Her chin wasn't so pointy, her nose was wider. I shuddered.

'God, this is creepy. You look good, though. I'd kiss you.' She giggled.

'Yeah, you two.'

'No giggling,' I told her, as we rode through the town and then into the woods. She nodded.

'Oh yeah, I forgot about that.' She dug around in her cloak until she produced a mirror. In te moonlight, there was just enough light for me to see my face. My hair was short, a messy choppy thing, and my face had changed just enough to pass as a guy.

'Thing is, I said, frowning at the reflection, neither of us are exactly ripped, Liss.' She shrugged.

'We're small for our age. Something like that.'

'This is suicide, I muttered. Hey, I never asked you what your name was.'

'It's Andre,' she informed me with a sad smile. I nodded. Andre was the name of her stepbrother, who had died when she was younger.

'Okay.' We rode in silence through the forest, revelling in what we were doing. It was so expressly forbidden, so disgraceful, so...well, very typical of us. It was a three-hour ride to the campsite, and when we got there, we saw tents, people walking around. We were a little bit late, but hell, we'd never been early.

'You two. Stop,' a deep voice told us before we could pass through the gates. Both of us nearly jumped out of our skins. A tall, young army guy stepped out of the shadows. He had short, light brown hair and laughing blue eyes that appraised us.

'Get down, he told us. Names?'

'Andre Miller,' Lissa said. He took her scroll and ticked a name, then turned to me.

'And you?'

'Tom Hathaway.' He frowned, taking mine, and studied the name.

'This is Mazur.'

'He's my uncle, I informed him. I volunteered for him.' The young guy frowned, then shrugged.

'Dimitri'll probably have my ass for that, but whatever. Oh, by the way, I'm Ivan,' he said, and shook both of our hands. Then, maybe as the dawn light became clearer, he frowned, sizing us up.

'What the hell are you two doing here?' He asked us harshly. I tensed.

'What do you mean?' I asked carefully.

'You know exactly what I mean! He hissed. You can't possibly be of age.' He turned to Lissa first. She shrugged her shoulders.

'Haven't filled out yet. My birthday was last month.' He squinted at her, then shrugged. Because she was tall, taller than me, she could get away with it, just passing for a tall, willowy boy.

'And you?' He asked. I sighed. Even though I was clearly stronger than Lissa, I was short-way too short for a guy.

'Okay, fine. I'm seventeen.'

'The age is nineteen,' he told me gruffly.

'I fight good. And my uncle's in no shape to come. Please,' I said desperately, and he sighed.

'Fine. Dimitri's going to beat my ass into the ground and then stomp on it, but you know what, fine.' I grinned at him.

'Your friend Dimitri, I commented. He sounds like such a lovely person.' Ivan winked at me, and nodded.

'Yeah, you'll meet him soon enough, he assured me. And when you do, you'll probably wish you had never been born. For now, you two can share a tent, pitch it anywhere you can find space and get your horses fed. I hope you've had your beauty sleep, ladies-making both of us flinch-because you're going to need it. Welcome to St. Vladimirs.'

_We made it_, I thought in a daze. _We actually made it. We ran away to the army._ There would be hell to pay for this, but it was the right thing to do. We got Finn and Flossie sorted and pitched our tent, and then walked up to the main area where breakfast was going on. A group of boys that looked a bit older than us shoved past us, sneering.

'Hey, watch it,' I growled, channeling my inner guy, and about 99% sure I was failing. One of the taller ones turned around, sizing me up.

'You wanna fight, new boy?' He taunted. I set my jaw.

'I'm not looking for trouble.' He shoved me, and naturally, I shoved him back. He stumbled, surprised by my strength, and crashed into his friend, who swore, then fell onto the table, overturning bowls of some kind of hot oatmeal onto others. The second boy turned around, and I had to smother a snigger, he was covered in the white oatmeal. I knew I should have just apologised, but I just couldn't.

'Hey, kid. Next time you blow him, tell your boyfriend to clean up after himself,' I snarked, and a collective ooh went around the camp. I heard Ivan, the gate guy, guffaw loudly and appreciatively. The guy's eyes widened, and then he grabbed the nearest bowl, and flung its contents, covering both me and Lissa. We looked at each other, and nodded.

And that's pretty much how the food fight began.

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	6. Chapter 5: Let's Get Down to Business

**NOF hasn't been UD'd for a while, sorry guys. But here it is! Enjoy :)**

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DPOV

Daylight was breaking as I stepped out of the tent, taking in the rough, majestic beauty of the northern landscape. It really was a beautiful place, remote and isolated as it was. Squinting in the pale but determined sunlight, I strode towards the main area where I could see throngs of people gathered. As I neared, I groaned. A fight had clearly broken out, already. And there went my hopes of training the best army in the north, I thought dryly as I drew closer. Ivan fell into step with me, and he was grinning ear to ear. He'd always had a penchant for fights, loved to watch them, start them, finish them, it didn't really matter.

"What happened and why didn't you stop it?" I asked tiredly. He snickered.

"Somebody bumped somebody. Next thing you know, there's war."

"Doesn't exactly help," I said exasperatedly. He shrugged.

"New guys pissed off Jesse Zelokos. Him and his goons went to town on them." I rolled my eyes. Brilliant.

"And you didn't stop it?" I asked. He grinned.

"Zelokos is a git, even if his father was a captain. He needed a solid thumping, and those two were holding their own." I furrowed my brow as I pushed through the crowd, realising it was two-on-four, and that the two were about half the size of the four. Nevertheless, they were, as Ivan had said, holding their own. But as I got closer I saw Jesse Zelokos on the ground, bellowing curses. A much smaller, brown-haired figure was on top of him and pummeling the hell out of him. A taller blonde kid was helping him out with one of Jessie's crones- the others seemed to have disappeared. Ivan and I paused for a moment, enjoying the sight, before looking resignedly at each other, realizing we probably should stop this, and then pushed through the crowd.

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RPOV

My day always starts out so well, I mused as I swung a left hook into the idiot's already mashed up face. And then I have to go start a fight and everything goes to shit. Well, not exactly. I had gathered that the guys we were beating up were complete assholes, and by taking them on we had won ourselves some new friends. In hindsight it had probably been a good idea, we didn't need to be picked on because we were smaller- this was a good way to get some respect. But the cheering outside my ringing eardrums spluttered and died, giving way to an uneasy silence. As I delivered what I knew would probably be the final blow, a hand grabbed my collar and threw me about two feet away, where I skidded, landing in the dust.

And that was when I saw him.

The first thing I noticed about him was that he was really, really tall. I mean, I always thought my height of about five-six was a decent height for a girl, but this guy…He would tower over me, and intimidation was written on every square inch of his well-built, althletic body. Deciding to ignore the fact that this was easily the best looking man I had ever seen, I could not allow him to intimidate me. So, I picked myself up and met his intense glare with one of determination.

"What the hell happened here?" He demanded, and I realised he wasn't from the north, but had instead a husky, slightly accented voice, but it was cold enough to freeze…well, anything. The boy on the ground spat blood and stood up, seething at me.

"He attacked me. Crazy jackass, needs to be taught a lesson."

"Shut it, Zelokos," the other man, Ivan, said with a yawn, earning himself a glare off his friend. "You two, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Lissa and I glanced at each other, and shrugged.

"Um, he pushed us. Provoked us. We weren't looking for trouble," I said, but my voice came out a little too quietly for my liking. An argument then broke out again between us and them over who had started it, but Ivan's friend cleared his throat.

"You four will spend the next hour cleaning up your mess. Stay away from each other." "You," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "What's your name?" I took a deep breath, knowing these words would seal me irrevocably into a deep, deep lie.

"It's-"

"ROSE!" A familiar voice bellowed, and my heart went cold as Mason appeared next to me, looking completely incredulous.

"What did you say?" The man enquired. I widened my eyes at Mason, whose mouth was still hanging open, and he quickly backtracked, but I could tell he was really, really mad as he worked out what had happened. Mason shrugged offhandedly.

"I said, um, nose. His is bleeding," he said, pointing at me. Tall guy shot Mason a suspicious look that said "you're clearly an idiot, I'm watching you", and thankfully, the crowd dispersed. Ivan walked up to us, grinning.

"Well done. That was brilliant," he told us, and smacked us each a high five.

"Ivan!" The other one barked, and he rolled his eyes.

"That must be Dimitri," I commented. Ivan chuckled. "Right little rainbow, isn't he?" I said innocently.

"Yes, and hasn't he just taken a shine to you. Anyway. You'd better get on with it," he informed us, and left. As we began to clean up, making sure to stay well away from the other two, I noticed Mason and a few other people watching us from a distance. I grimaced. I could expect to be yelled at by my other best friend for at least a solid half hour, I thought to myself grimly. Lissa and I finished our half of the area quickly and were sneaking back towards our tents to check on the horses when Mason materialized, falling into step with me.

"What the hell do you think you're going here?" He hissed. For the first time in my life, Mason was angry.

"I'm going to check on my horse."

"You joined the army!" He exploded. "You're breaking at least three laws punishable by death!"

"Are not," I argued back, and he scowled.

"Well, you're underage, you stole another man's scroll, and oh-I almost forgot-you're a girl," he said sarcastically.

"Mase, I wasn't going to let my father die, just like you volunteered for yours." He nodded.

"Yeah, I can see the Rose-Logic behind that part. There's just a tiny issue in the fact that you brought a Mori crown princess with you!" He said exasperatedly. "Look girls, I-"

"You can't tell anyone. We might get killed being here, but if you reveal us, we'll be dead as well," I whispered, feeling very sick.

"Mase, please," Lissa chimed in. He groaned.

"Of course I won't tell anyone. My friends want you to stick around with us after the meat mess you made of Zelokos, and that's probably a good idea. You don't need any more trouble."

"Thanks," I said, feeling very grateful. He frowned, then shook his head.

"Man, this is screwed up. What am I even supposed to call you? I don't think 'Nose' will work."

"Andre Miller," Lissa said, and extended her hand. He grinned dryly, and shook it.

"Tom Hathaway," I told him, and he grimaced.

"Jesus Christ. This is not going to end well. Hey look, Belikov wants us all over there."

"Oh, great," I muttered, and we jogged back to the centre of camp. It was some kind of briefing, and we tuned in immideately.

"We expect attacks to come from the north by wintertime," he was saying. "Before that, it is likely the camp will be attacked, which is why we will have a guard duty, to be sorted out later today. In the meantime"-he smirked at Ivan, and my stomach did a rather unpleasant flip-flop-"we'll evaluate you, and see what you've learned." I swallowed hard. This would be the tricky part. Lissa and I could both fight, having spent the majority of our teenage years on the rooftop of the Boy's Academy, listening to them train and practicing it ourselves, but now we would find out how well we had done.

"In other words," Dimitri said, passing around baskets full of long wooden poles, about double my height. He handed the last one to me and met my eyes with a challenge.

"Let's get down to business."

** Six hours later.**

If there was a hell, I thought to myself as we trailed back into the main square of the camp, I'd like to go there for a holiday. Training with Belikov and Ivan was hell on earth-but the only solace was, it was hard on everyone else. We hadn't lagged behind extremely-whilst we had been at the back for most of the activities, we had managed to keep our heads above water. Lissa was looking paler than ever, as muddy and sweaty as I was, but her steely determination had come out to play. I had decided quite quickly (after the first half-hour) that Dimitri Belikov was the bane of my existence.

**FLASHBACK**

I was squinting, trying to see through the sun's glare the tiny target we'd been shooting at. I knew he was watching me, so I strung the arrow and pulled back-I knew the technique was good, I was a fair shot-but the bow was heavier than any I'd ever handled. With determination, I pulled it back and released with a twang, not enough strength to hold it back and concentrate. It landed in the outer ring of the target, and I heard a voice from behind me.

"Not good enough." I knew that most weren't faring any better, he just seemed to be taking delight in making sure my life was a misery. My knuckles tightened on the bow, imagining turning around and shooting him.

"Don't waste your time," he drawled, as if reading my thoughts. "You probably couldn't hit me from here." My temper simmering, I'd saved the energy, hoping to get him back later. It was strange-I felt like I had known him forever, which unnerved me. Next they did running-loads and loads of it. They didn't let Liss and I pair up, and once again, I ended up with belikov.

"One person be the strigori, the other must run," Ivan said, and then paired all the rest up. Dimitri smirked at me.

"I'm the strigori," he told me, and this irked me. I shook my head.

"No, I am."

"Believe it or not, strigori don't come in children's sizes." I narrowed my eyes.

"Can it, Jack the Beanstalk, and run." He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you arguing with me?" Clearly, he wasn't used to being challenged.

"No, you're arguing with me," I said, knowing I was slowly infuriating him. He smiled a not-very-nice-smile at me.

"Run," he ordered, through gritted teeth.

"You run!" I demanded. "I've been running for the past half an hour, you just sat on your ass and-"he took off after me, and I squeaked.

"Okay, fine, I'm running!" I hissed, feeling a stitch come back as we blurred past the others, nearly knocking Ivan over in our path. The man was seriously, seriously fast. It was only through a few sharp turns and lucky misses I lasted so long. I don't really want to go into the details, but that exercise finished with me soaking wet in a stream he pushed me into, and it took me a good twenty minutes to find my way back.

* * *

So, like I said, Belikov was an asshole, a sentiment that seemed to be fairly well shared. We were back in the courtyard, and the two men turned to face the group.

"You lack skills, Belikov said bluntly. Perfection is the bare minimum around here. The next few months will be hard, but you will be ready when the time comes." With seemingly little effort, he pulled back a longbow-the one I'd had so much trouble with-and fired an arrow to the very top of the wide, wooden flagpole. He picked up two stakes.

"This is discipline, and this is strength. You will need both to reach the arrow." I couldn't resist rolling my eyes.

"Um, why?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Why what?" He repeated. I shrugged.

"Well…the strigori aren't going to be hiding in trees, are they?" A few people-Ivan included-stifled grins before Belikov made his way through the group to stand in front of me, his eyes gleaming.

"In that case, he smirked, you can go first, Hathaway."

"Oh, fuck me," I muttered, realising that each of the stakes weighted about ten pounds.

"What was that?" He called back, a fully-fledged grin on his face by now.

"I said what a great opportunity, thanks ever so much, I muttered."

So needless to say, that didn't go too well either. But eventually, as all days must do, it ended. Lissa and I stuck with Mase and his friends-Eddie Castile , Christian Ozera and Adrian Ishkavov, all of whom I thought were pretty awesome. We were eating-I have no idea what, I was just so hungry-when Mase flagged down somebody else.

"Hey, come sit!" He yelled, and the person sat down between Mason and me. They were short, like me, with short golden hair and hazel-gold eyes, pale skin with a faint smattering of freckles.

"You're Tom, and you're Andre, right?" He checked, in a quiet voice. We both nodded. He averted his gaze, seeming almost shy.

"What's your name?" I asked, and he looked up with almost a smirk on his face.

"It's Sydney," he said quietly. "Sydney Sage."

* * *

**So! Sydney's doing a similar thing to Rose and Lissa, they just don't know it yet. Dimitri is being a bit of an ass (no actually a HUGE ass) but he's got lots of pressure and stress from Stan and being a captain and living up to expectations, so that's why he might seem a bit evil right now. Hopefully, soon, he and Rose can become friends, or at least stop wishing they could kill the other. Will update again soon!**

**Em xx**


	7. Chapter 7: Stakes, Strigori & a Smile

**Hi guys! I hope this chap was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write. PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM!**

* * *

**ONE MONTH LATER**

_She was galloping towards me, I was frozen, unable to move. Mesmerized by the sight of her. Hypnotised by her bravery, her strength, the fierce expression on her lovely face. Her wavy hair was tangling in the wind behind her as she sat astride a tall horse._

_"Dimitri!" She called, and her voice seemed familiar. She was riding straight for me, suddenly too close, and I realised she was about to hit me. I lunged to the side, but then she was gone, vanished into the misty moorlands. Then suddenly she appeared, standing over me with a smile on her face. She was wearing riding clothes, not a dress, I noticed, and thought it slightly odd._

_"Who are you? Where are you?" I asked urgently. She usually disappeared, but this time, her visit was longer. The mystery girl smiled again, and kissed my cheek softly, leaving a lingering smell of vanilla and spice._

_"Don't worry, Comrade," she said gently, with a hint of mischief in her eyes. "I'm much closer than you could ever imagine." And with that, she disappeared._

* * *

I woke with a gasp, and found Ivan staring over me.

"What's in your pants?" He asked in an offhand manner, then sniggered. "Oh, yeah, I remember. Nothing. That's probably your problem."

"How do you even have friends?" I grumbled as I threw a shirt and some pants on. He shrugged.

"I ask myself the same question everyday, when I see you," he said, rather amiably. "Smarmy attitude, stick up his arse, completely and totally"-he broke off as we exited the tent, and paused at the sight that befell us. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, I'll be damned."

"Whoa," Ivan said slowly. "Is he-"

"Yep," I said, a grin slowly spreading over my face. "Yep, I think he is."

* * *

"Get down here right now, Hathaway!" Alto squeaked, and I scowled my irritation.

"Maybe if you shut up, I'd get up and down a bit faster," I hissed.

"Go, Tom!" Eddie cheered. I grinned, glad to have somebody on my side.

"There is no way you are getting up that without falling on your ass," Christian, a rather obnoxious boy who I strongly suspected had some Mori in him, and also whom Lissa was tragically and irrevocably in love with- said snarkily.

"Belikov will do his nut if he sees you up there," Adrian drawled.

"One can only hope," I called back. "Who knows, maybe if he got some, he'd stop being such an-"

"I can hear you, Hathaway," said a deep voice full, to my surprise, of amusement. He was standing at the door of his tent, muscular arms crossed strongly across his chest, appraising me. For a minute our gazes connected, and my hands tightened on the stake as I stares into his beautiful, chocolate brown eyes, a little mesmerized by the completely fucking sexy smirk on his lips. He raised an eyebrow at me and looked towards the pole I was supposed to be climbing, and I jerked out of it with disappointment. Of course. Nothing says rejection like _"I thought you have a penis,"_ I mused to myself. I was about two thirds of the way up now, but was already regretting my decision to try this. I gritted my teeth, hauling myself up another body length.

By now, the entire camp was watching me, and after ten more minutes of sweat and splinters, I reached the top. I yanked the arrow out of the wood, then reached for the longbow I had slung across my back. I stuck both stakes into the wood for footholds, took a deep breath and pulled the string back. It was still hard, but now, I could manage it. I released the breath and the arrow pinged, sailing straight through the air to land about a foot away from where Dimitri and Ivan stood. My aim had always been excellent, but now I was strong enough to prove it. Most of the camp erupted into enthusiastic applause, but the best reward of all was a full-out, amused grin from the man himself, who shook his head at me. My heart fluttered quickly all of a sudden, and I suddenly realised how much I wanted to be myself around him. But that would never happen. It could never happen, no matter how much I wanted it to.

"If you can figure out how to get down, then I'll be impressed," he informed me. My face fell, and I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

"Oh, _shit_," I hissed.

* * *

**LATER THAT DAY**

It was about six at night, and the sun was setting over the mountains. Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Mason, Adrian, Sydney and I were rostered on to make dinner for the camp. And when I say us, I mean that Sydney and I made dinner whilst Lissa made goo-goo eyes at Christian-I was going to have to talk to her about that later-, Mason and Eddie flicked peas at each other and Adrian got drunk on the port behind the kitchens. I liked Sydney a lot-he was a down to earth, sensible, very loyal person. He was lightning quick and absoloutely lethal with or without a weapon, but quite quiet until you got to know him. He came from a neighbouring village, and he had volunteered for the army in place of his father, as well. Early on, he had slipped and confessed he was, like me, actually only seventeen, and I had told him I was the same, as well. I couldn't help think he was quite secretive, he didn't like to let a lot of his personality show when with bigger groups, but he and I had become fast and good friends.

"Flick one more pea at me, Mason Ashford, and so help me god I will drown you in this soup," I threatened. He grinned lazily at me, and flicked the pea. It ricochet off the top of my ear, landing splat in the middle of Sydney's pale forehead. Mason's laughter died right there, and he swallowed nervously.

"Um, sorry, Syd. I was aiming for Tom, I didn't-"he smirked, wiping it off with a shrug.

"It's fine," he drawled, but his tone promised revenge-lots of it, and very, very soon. Mason gulped.

"Anything I can help you with?" He offered, just in time for Ivan and Dimitri to come walking by.

"Going all-right, Hathaway?"

"What's the harshest penalty you got against mutineers?" I grumbled. Ivan shrugged.

"Death, why?" I frowned.

"Well, I don't need you to kill them. Just maim, beat or severely injure would do just fine." Ivan laughed, and started to reply, but Dimitri elbowed him.

"Look," he said sharply, and they turned their gazes towards the gates. I followed their gazes to see a man riding on a tall dappled grey, at a very high speed. The people at the gate let him in quickly, and I recognised him as he got closer. It was Victor Dashkov, an advisor who stayed in St. Vladimirs every other week, and was in court the rest of the time.

"Didn't he just leave yesterday?" I asked.

"Yep," Dimitri said grimly, and jogged over quickly. Ivan raised an eyebrow at us.

"Are y'all coming, or not?" I turned the soup off, and shook Adrian awake.

"Andre, Christian!" I hissed. "Something's gone down." They looked up from their rather cosy looking chat, and followed me into the centre of the camp. Victor looked ashen, nearly grey, in fact, and his face was grave. Dimitri's was a picture of impatience as he waited for the other man to dismount and the other members of the camp to assemble. He removed a scroll from his saddlebag, bowed, and gave it to Dimitri, who unfurled it and began to read aloud.

_"It is with the greatest of regrets that I must inform you of a terrible tradgedy that took place three days ago. The castle of Harlem (a a court the royals went to in the summertime) was struck by a series of terrible attacks from our enemies. Guardian casualties are yet unknown, but it is thought that at least twenty guardians were killed in the battle. The most devastating news, however, is that the Crown Prince Isiah was attacked and struck dead by the strigori leader. More and more attacks are making their way up the border, and it is predicted they will reach St Vladimir's Pass come the first fall of snow."_

Murmurs broke out among the crowd. My gaze shot to Lissa, who looked deathly pale. I knew she had never cared for Isiah, they had been step-siblings and he had never been kind to her, but such sudden news was bound to shock her.

"This is terrible news," Dimitri said lowly. Victor nodded.

"Yes indeed. Her Majesty has, of course, named Princess Vasalissa as the heir, but-he hesitated-her whereabouts are unknown. They fear she has been quietly killed or kidnapped. Nothing has been seen of her in a few days." A few days? I thought to myself. It was more like a month, but Lissa was so overlooked I wasn't surprised at all to see it had taken this long for them to find her.

"Did Mikhail send instructions for us?" Dimitri asked. Dashkov nodded.

"Yes. He advises you to double your guards, continue your training and take nothing for granted. They may not wait for winter."

"Very well," Dimitri said tightly, his guardian-face back on, stoic and emotionless as ever. "We will be prepared, when the time comes." Dashkov swiftly bowed again, mounted his horse, and rode back out through the gates without another word. Dimitri and Ivan disappeared into the tactics tent, my friends were deep in conversation. Alto was wandering around like a lost puppy, barking out useless orders every five seconds.

"Come with me," I told Lissa, grabbing her arm and dragging her back to my tent.

"Liss, you have to leave," I exploded. "It isn't safe for you here. Hell, it never was. What the hell was I thinking when I let you come along?"

"I'm not leaving you," she said stubbornly.

"Liss, if they find out they will kill you! The strigori, and Dimitri, and Tatiana will disown you! You have to think of stuff like that," I pleaded with her, and her face softened.

"Look, Rose. Half the empire's out looking for me, including the strigori. Here is the last place they will ever think to look. I need to do this just as much as you do," she said fiercely. "I want to prove myself, I want to help my country. And sitting on my backside watching people get killed is not going to help anyone. Plus, if I tell them, they'll kill you."

"No they won't," I snorted.

"Rose, they'll think you kidnapped me," she said softly. "I can't bear to let anything happen to you, and I'm gonna see this thing out. We can't say a word. We just have to be careful. Okay?" I nodded dumbly, still trying to comprehend the enormity of what we were doing. She offered me a small smile.

"I'm gonna go find Christian," she told me quietly. And I sat there and watched as the heir to the throne walked back out of my tent, towards our friends and into oblivion.

* * *

**SOMETHING FUN: Leave a review and tell me who your favourite character was in this chapter, and whichever character wins, I'll post a bit of the next chap in their POV!**

**Em xx**


	8. Chapter 8: Secrets & a Surprise Attack

**So the reviewers I got last chapter said they liked Rose, Dimitri, Ivan and Lissa the best. As a reward to all of them, I've decided write each of their POV's! Enjoy, this chap has some pretty important stuff in it. We draw ever nearer to the big reveal!**

**I WEEK LATER**

* * *

**DPOV**

Suspiciously, I followed Ivan into Stan's tent with a funny feeling that whatever was going to happen was not going to be good.

"What did you do this time?" I muttered to my friend, who shrugged his shoulders. For the first time in my life or his, he looked like he legitimately did not know what he had done. He looked…Innocent. Even though his name and that word combines was pretty much the biggest oxymoron ever. We sat facing a red-faced Stan, and glanced at each other.

"What seems to be the problem?" I asked, determined to at least start out this confrontation as civilly as possible. Stan sneered at me, and I had the urge to punch the expression clean off his face.

"Your recruits, Belikov, are the laziest, most useless bunch of misfits I have ever seen, and their captains are not much better. You know exactly how they have been pulling tricks on me these past weeks, yet you do nothing about it. They are insolent, ignorant northerners, and I will not stand for it!" He yelled, his face going purplish with rage. I, of course, knew exactly which pranks he meant (after Alto had insulted Mason Ashford, Hathaway and his band of renegades took it upon themselves to hide Stan's clothes when he was bathing.) I reminded myself to punish them for it, and glanced towards Ivan with a "you say something" look, but he was struggling to remain composed. I rolled my eyes, remembering he had been in on the prank, and realised I would not get any constructive help from him.

"They are young and immature," I told Stan with a sigh. "But they have improved dramatically, and are certainly at Guardian standards."

"Throw them out, Belikov, or I'll write to Mikhail and inform him of what has been happening here."

"I have no inclination to do that," I said calmly.

"Then I shall punish them as I see fit," Stan sniffed. Ivan shook his head, putting his feet up on the desk comfortably. I gave him a "what the fuck do you think you're doing glare" but he grinned it off.

"No, let me see to them. I assure you, no other…silly tricks of the kind will be committed." I nearly snorted, knowing that Ivan was much more likely to help them do it than anything, but stayed silent.

"You are useless," Stan spat at me. My temper rose, my fists clenched under the table.

"Speak for yourself," I snapped, and he sneered. Ivan raised an eyebrow, clearly smelling a fight coming on, and I knew he was giving me the better odds from the wink he gave me.

"Alto, you will not question my authority, nor Ivan's. We are the captains in charge of this camp. Our decisions are the ones that matter. We deal with those recruits as we see fit. You do not have to like it, but you must respect it," I growled. "And if you can do neither, keep your damned mouth shut."

"You're just like your father," Alto spat, and my eyes widened. Ivan barely covered a grin, realising that a serious shitstorm was on the way.

"I'm outta here," he muttered, and I waited for him to leave before leaning in towards Alto, barely controlling my anger.

"I am nothing," I growled, "like my father."

And that was when I punched him.

* * *

**IPOV**

I quickly exited the tent, not really wanting to be within striking range when Dimitri went off his head. My good guardian instincts picked up somebody nearby, and I walked around the tent to see a pair of brown eyes. It was Hathaway.

"What are you doing?" I asked suspiciously.

"Not eavesdropping," he said immediately. "I totally wasn't doing that."

"Of course not," I agreed with an amused smile. "But if you don't want to get your eardrums crushed, you'd better move. "

"What's going on?" He asked, as we walked away from the tent.

"Alto mentioned Dimitri's father," I told him. "He'll never come out alive."

"Shouldn't you stop that?" He asked, eyes wide. I smirked, realising the kid had never seen Dimitri properly angry. If I was to intervene, there was a possibility I wouldn't come out alive, either.

"Dimitri's pretty calm most of the time. Being a guardian does that to you. You learn to block out your emotions. But…well, that's a sensitive issue, one Dimitri never properly dealt with. When he gets angry," I shook my head. "He really, really gets angry." A strange emotion crossed his face, a kind of foreboding one.

"What…what's the deal, then? What happened to his dad?" I sighed, knowing I shouldn't be telling him this, but I got the feeling he'd keep it quiet.

"He wasn't such a great guy. He beat Dimitri's mom up, then he'd try and stop it and Alexsander'd hit him too. Dimka kicked him out of the house when he was just thirteen," I said quietly, remembering all those years, remembering the frightened but determined kid my best friend used to be. He had grown up into somebody far more complicated, and it was just as rare for him to let his walls down nowadays as it had been when I first met him.

"He was a guardian, but a terrible one…Always late, mouthing off his superiors, shirking his duty. Then one day, he abandoned his battalion during a strigori attack, and killed his charge," I said gravely.

"So that's why he's so…"He trailed off, unable to finish."And I thought he was just an asshole." I laughed at that.

"Oh, believe me, he is. But he's a good man at heart. He's always felt he needed to prove himself so much, and that's his problem." He nodded.

"Yeah, I get that, he said quietly." The bell struck eight o'clock, and the comfortable silence was broken.

"It's my guard shift," he muttered. "I should go." I nodded, staring after him. There was something just…off, about him. He was a strong fighter, fast and with a deadly aim, but that wasn't what intruiged me. It was something in the way he spoke, how he dealt with people, the way he walked…there was something different about him, a niggling doubt I'd had since the first time I'd ever seen him. Now, as I watched him fade away, I vowed to find out what it was.

* * *

**LPOV**

I had done it. I had done exactly what I had warned myself I must not do, the first time I ever set eyes on him. I just couldn't help it. There was no fighting against it.

I had fallen in love with Christian Ozera, and there was nothing I could do about it. Part of me wished that I had never even come here in the first place, so I wouldn't have had to lie to him, lie about who I was. But another, larger part of my heart was so, so glad I had come, and that even though there was no way I could ever be with him, I had met him and we were friends. That was better than nothing, right? What was that old saying? Better to have lived and lost love, than to have never loved at all. I laughed. Christian didn't know how I felt, he could never imagine it, but still, it was a little bit of consolation. We were sitting around the fire-me, Christian, Adrian, Eddie and Sydney- Mason was off doing guard duty and Rose was getting up to god-knows-what, probably with Dimitri. I smiled to myself. She could bitch and whinge about him all she wanted, but I knew how she really felt. She was attracted to him, and I could see why. He was at once both the complete opposite of her, and exactly the same. It was too bad that I already knew, that my Spirit was telling me that this misadventure would only end with heartbreak and tears. I remembered the dream that had flashed in front of my eyes…

_Chaos. Darkness. Galloping horses. Screaming. Death. The smell of blood. Red eyes and pale skin everywhere. No escape. A girl sobbing. _

It was haunting my dreams, this fragment of a soon-to-come reality, and it terrified me. But even worse was the not knowing-never knowing when this might become true, who might die, who might live. I shuddered. I had learned a long time ago that there was no point dwelling on what could be, instead of what was already. I pushed those troubling thoughts to the back of my mind.

"Hey, Andre," Christian said suddenly. "You and Tom came from a village real far north, right?"

"Right," I said, slightly warily.

"Did you ever meet her?" He asked eagerly. I frowned.

"Meet who?" He rolled his eyes.

"Princess Dragomir, of course. Did you live close to her?" I swallowed hard.

"No," I managed. "No, she lived somewhere else."

"I went to that town, once," he said in a dreamy voice. "Where she lived. I was with my father, we were trading, and I saw her." He paused thoughtfully. "You know, that was three years ago, and she's still the most beautiful girl I've ever seen." My heart soared, and I could barely keep from smiling.

"Yeah, I guess. If you like that type," I said dryly. He looked at me incredulously.

"That type? She isn't a type. She was that kind of person you just know is beautiful on the inside, as well. It just kind of radiated out of her. She was smiling. I'd do anything to make her smile," he sighed. I grinned in spite of myself as Christian's eyes glazed over. Rose would die of laughter when she heard about this.

"I wonder what she's doing right now," Christian said with a heavy sigh. A private, secret smile crossed my face as I stared up into the starry sky.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I wonder."

* * *

**RPOV**

I walked away from Ivan feeling a little dizzy. I felt horrible I had judged Dimitri so quickly, horrible I hadn't thought that there might be more to him than met the eye. I should know- back home, everyone judged me on first impressions, on stereotypes they pushed me around until I fit-but really, they had no idea that I was just covering the insecurities and cracks in my heart. I guessed we were really very similar in that respect.

I climbed to the top of the tower, sighing as I saw the beautiful sunset stretched out in front of me. The same sunset I was sure my parents were gazing out at right now, maybe even thinking about me. Every time they crossed my thoughts I felt a little guilty, but in hindsight I had realised I'd made the only choice I could. To allow anything else to happen would have been unthinkable.

The found of footsteps on the ladder made me flinch. Dimitri entered the guard-tower, his eyes still angry, expression cold. I averted my gaze, my heart suddenly pounding far too fast. We sat in silence for a while until I couldn't bear it any longer.

"So…I'll hold him, you punch?" I offered, and a grim smile crossed his face.

"How'd you hear about that?" He asked, but looked like he already knew the answer.

"Ivan," we said at the same time, and laughed. The silence took back over again, but it was a more comfortable one now.

"D'you ever get the feeling that people judge you based on what they think you should be?" He asked quietly, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I do," I said quietly. "And it feels like you can never do enough, be enough, say enough, to prove them wrong." He looked at me with those goregeous chocolate eyes, a slight smile on his face.

"Exactly," he breathed.

"People see what they want to see," I told him, toying with a stick. "It's easier to label someone than get to know them." He chuckled, propping his chin up on his hand.

"You know what, you're all right, Hathaway," he told me with a little bit of a smile. "Crazy stupid and a pain in the ass," but you're all right. My heart warmed at his words, but I didn't let it show.

"Likewise," I muttered, and silence took over again.

However, I had a track record of catastrophe making a conscious effort to find me and destroy even the most perfect moment. Unfortunately, this was no exception. It was at that moment I heard Mason shout a word that echoed through the forest and made my blood run cold.

"STRIGORI!"

* * *

Everything happened very fast then. Within an instant, Dimitri threw a stake at me, and jumped down from the tower, landing like a cat. I did likewise.

"Raise the alarm. I will stay here." I opened my mouth to protest, but decided against it. I was not about to disobey a direct order when so many lives hung in the balance. I took off running, and as I entered the camp I grabbed the bells and began to ring them vigorously.

"Attack!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Ivan came running out of his tent, eyes wide.

"Dimitri?" He asked. I pointed. He nodded.

"Alert the others. Do what you can." Then he was gone, sprinting with his stake to where I had left Dimitri. Most people were clamouring around right about now.

"Listen!" I shouted, but nobody did. My patience was rather thin, and I lost it immediately.

"Oi, listen!" I roared. The camp fell silent.

"There are strigori in the forests. Split into groups of five and space yourselves along the front lines. Watch each other's backs. Fight hard. This is what we've been training for," I growled. Everything was a hive of activity as they hastened to do what I said. Lissa ran towards me.

"You have to get into the tent," I told her, panicked.

"I'm not deserting any of you," she hissed. "I'm fighting these bastards with you, Rose, so deal with it." Eddie, Sydney, Adrian, Christian, Lissa and I ran for the area we knew Mason had been guarding. By now, the battle was in full-throttle-I could see other people fighting against other figures, and wondering, shuddering, what it would be like, look like, feel like. I did not have to wait long. A strong force connected with my stomach, sending me to the ground, winded. A red-eyed, black haired man stood over me with a mocking grin.

"Hello, little one," he said tauntingly. I lunged to my feet, and began to fight for my life. It was the hardest fight I had ever been in-he was much, much stronger than me, and as a punch connected with my temple, my stake slipped out of my hand. He grabbed my throat and pushed me up against the tree, his evil eyes glowing.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he hissed.

"I'm not," I snarled. At the last moment I remembered the stake I had shoved inside my shirt, whipped it out and thrust it into his heart. The strigori gave a scream, shaking violently, and then fell to the ground with vacant eyes. Trembling, I pulled the stake out of the dead body, stowing one in my boot and the other I carried. _Note to self-always have a back up,_ I thought, and then stumbled on trying to find my friends. I saw Christian and Lissa fighting one strigori, Adrian and Sydney on another, and I ran to help Eddie, who was trapped under a tall golden-haired female strigori. Bloodlust must have compromised her senses-she did not sense me behind her until it was too late. I plunged the stake into her back and she gave the same withering scream. I helped a shaking and pale Eddie up, glad to see the rest of my friends had emerged unscathed.

"Look!" Adrian said urgently. "They're backing off." And so they were. My fellow recruits were doing a pretty good job of kicking ass, and the strigori were turning back.

"Mason!" I gasped, remembering. Come on, we have to find him. We ran on, and there were four more strigori-Eddie took one, Sydney took one, Christian and Adrian got one and I helped Lissa with the last.

"Mason!" Lissa yelled into the forest. Just then, a hand caught my shoulder from behind and I whirled, stake at the ready. My attacker threw me bodily to the ground, and I realised it was Dimitri.

"Ow," I groaned. He raised an eyebrow.

"Had to do it. From what I've seen, you're pretty lethal. Is everyone allright?"

"We can't find Mason," I told him as I stood. "What's going on?"

"They're gone," he told me. "It was only about twenty-five of them. It looks like you six got the brunt of it." Suddenly, Lissa gasped.

"He's over here!" She yelled, and ran to the left. We all followed her, and what we found made my heart sink. A couple hundred meters from the guard-post, Mason was lying on the ground. Surrounding him were three dead Strigori, but he was injured.

"Mase!" I gasped, running towards him and grabbing his hand. Where are you hurt?Then I saw the dark wound in his lowed stomach, the blood soaked shirt, and trailed off in horror. Dimitri shouldered past me, lifting Mason onto a stretcher. Adrian and Christian helped him carry Mason back whilst the three of us ran alongside. My brain was swirling. I couldn't let Mason die. I would never forgive myself if he died. I met Lissa's eyes and nodded. We would just have to make sure that didn't happen.

* * *

"For the last goddamn time, no, you may not go in there," Dimitri snapped at me. "He is injured and there's nothing you can do. The medics are working on it." I glanced desperately at Lissa. It had been over an hour, and she said she could feel him starting to fade. I made one of my famous snap for-better-or-for-worse decisions.

"Dimitri, I need to talk to you," I said lowly. He raised an eyebrow, but directed me into a nearby tent, then shrugged.

"What?"

"You have to let Andre in to see him," I said breathlessly. He frowned.

"Why do I get the feeling there's something you aren't telling me?" I swallowed, remembering Ivan saying how mad Dimitri could get. Hopefully he'd see the sense.

"Look, Dimitri…Andre isn't a dhamphir," I said quietly. His eyes widened.

"He's a-"

"Mori," I finished quickly. "And I know that's illegal and everything, but look. He wields Spirit. He can heal Mason," I begged.

"I'm going to go and talk to Andre," he growled.

"No! Don't do that," I exclaimed. "Look, it was my idea for him to come. He volunteered for somebody, for somebody too sick to come themselves. What difference does it make?"

"Every difference!" He yelled, grabbing my collar. "He's a goddamn Mori, Hathaway! What's next? Is he a Dragomir as well?" He asked sarcastically. My silence told him everything he needed to know.

"You better hope he isn't, he growled. Or else I am going to kick your ass. Tell me who he is," he gritted. I yanked myself away from him.

"His name is Andre Dragomir. He's a distant relative, nobody important," I lied quickly.

"And you thought it was an excellent idea to bring him to the army," he snarled, raising a hand to strike me, and I winced. Slowly he lowered the hand, a calm settling over him.

"We'll talk about this later," he told me. "Go fix Ashford." My heart pounding, I ran out of the tent, grabbed Lissa, and pulled her in to where Mason lay.

"It's late," she whispered, "but not too late." I saw a blinding flash of magic, and then the blood began to disappear from Mason's shirt. He groaned, his eyes fluttering, and I breathed a sigh of relief. He would be all right now. Weak for a while, but he would live.

"Thank you," I breathed to Lissa. She just shrugged as we stepped out of the tent, and were met with Dimitri's cold gaze.

"Get some rest, all of you," he ordered harshly. "You'll be needing it." With that he strode away, and Lissa and I made our way back to our tents. I knew that telling him that had gone down as best it could have, but he was still completely furious at me-he had every right to be. I couldn't help wonder how angry he'd be when he found out what other secrets we were hiding.

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**That was a freaking HUGE chapter, please give me some feedback!**

**Em xx**


	9. Chapter 9: A Girl Worth Fighting For

**Thanks for all of your reviews, guys, it means a lot J This chapter is my take off of the scene in Mulan where they dress up as a royal messenger and give the camp a message… Also, just to put some people at ease, Mason will NOT die in this story, I love him too much to let that happen..:)**

**ALSO: Apologies if this chapter seems to rush things along, but it's taking too long for me to get to where I want it, and I want to finish this story before the end of February!**

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It was two days after the whole "Andre-is-a-Moroi-revelation," and Dimitri still wasn't speaking to me. Mason, thank god, was so much better, walking and talking and being as much of an idiot as ever. It was mid-morning and I was out on guard duty with Lissa and we were having a quiet bag-Dimitri-out session. She leant against the tree, her arms crossed defensively.

"I just can't see why it matters, she sighed. Don't worry, he'll get over it eventually."

"I guess," I mumbled. She looked at me sideways.

"You guys totally have a thing, don't you?" She snickered. "Well, let's just hope he doesn't like you. That could complicate things." I smiled and shook my head.

"Liss, when we tell them…It's going to be bad," I said quietly. Her face fell.

"Yeah, I know."

"I don't think we'll make it out of this thing without them finding out, I told her. One way or another, something's going to happen." She nodded.

"But for the meantime, we've just got to do the best we can." Suddenly, Lissa paled, clutching her temple.

"I-I don't feel good," she gasped.

"What's wrong?" I asked worriedly. She grimaced.

"It's a spirit headache. But it's stronger, like I'm having a-"she paused, going completely still, completely rigid. I froze as well, recognising what was happening. She was having a vision-her sight was showing her images of the future. Her eyes glazed over as she stared out into the middle-distance, as if she could see things I couldn't. I studied her, waiting for it to finish for about a minute-uncommonly long- and then she gasped, her eyes widening and she stumbled. I caught her before she could fall, and gently lowered her to the ground.

"What? What did you see?" She wiped a trembling hand over her sweaty forehead, her jade-green eyes wide with fear. Her whole body was shaking. Slowly, she turned her face towards me.

"They are going to find us," she said slowly.

"When? Where? How?" I said desperately, my stomach sickened by the thought of it. She shook her head mutedly, looking at me with a strange expression halfway between pity and sadness.

"You saw something about me, didn't you?" I whispered. She hesitated, then nodded.

"Yes, I did. But I think it can be changed still. It wasn't solid yet, but if we leave it much longer, it will be. I didn't just see things about us," she told us. "The Strigoi army are going to target here, very, very soon. Like a week, tops. Maybe sooner. Most-"she paused, seeming overcome. "Most of us will die. We survive, but then they find out," she whispered.

"And then what?" I urged. She shook her head, the look in her eyes telling me everything I needed to know.

"We have to get everyone out of the camp," I said urgently. "But how? How do we get three hundred people just to pack up and leave?"

"I think I know," Lissa said quietly. "It'll be dangerous, but it might work…" She trailed off in train of thought and I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, well when you feel like telling somebody let me know," I snapped. To my surprise, she didn't snap back, only frowned a little harder. I realised she probably couldn't hear me anyways-she was reaching into the future, trying to see things. I shuddered. Magic wasn't my thing. I was good at hitting stuff, not understanding Moroi magic.

"Yes," she said triumphantly. "We have to tell a really, really big lie."

"I think we've already got that covered," I said dryly. She grinned.

"No, I mean like a blow-your-socks-off, get thrown in jail kind of lie." I rolled my eyes.

"Honestly, what is more blow-your-socks-off than "I'm not a guy?" I asked exasperatedly. She leaned over and whispered her plan in my ear, and my eyes widened.

"No way. Nobody is ever going to believe that." She nodded her head determinedly.

"Yes they will. It's such a huge lie they'll have no choice but to believe it."

"Lissa, there is no way in hell I'm doing this," I said firmly. "Lying is one thing, but that? It's punishable by death and completely fucking insane. Plus I remember how high those bits of the chicken flew when you exploded it."

"You wanna get caught?" She asked me resolutely. "We aren't even lying. We're just…enhancing the truth. Speeding up the process." I paused for a moment, considering it. I realised I must have truly gone insane to even consider doing this, but then reasoned I had always been crazy. This was just one step further.

"Oh my god, I groaned. Fine, but we're not using Finn." She sighed.

"Okay, whatever, we'll use Flossie. Happy?"

"No, not really," I mumbled. "But hey, whatever. How much more trouble can we actually get ourselves into?"

As I was to find out, clearly, quite a lot more.

* * *

Dimitri was crossing the courtyard with Ivan when he saw me coming, and straightened out with an incredulous smile. Ivan looked up too, and the pair exchanged a quick word. My heart pounding, I pulled the new-and-improved Flossie, who was now a buckskin thanks to Lissa, to a halt.

"Mikhail!" Dimitri called, jogging over. I swung off the horse, shuddering. This was weird. Seriously, seriously messed up.

"Dimitri, I said gravely. It's good to see you." He nodded.

"You as well. I didn't see you come in through the gates, sir."

"A few of your guardsmen let me in through the side-gate," I lied effortlessly.

"What brings you here?" Ivan asked, his eyes looking concerned. Mikhail-or, rather, I- sighed gravely.

"It isn't good, I'm afraid. I rode to tell you that we have recently received intelligence that the enemy will attack this camp in less than one week. I would have sent a messenger, but I did not want the message getting intercepted."

"So soon," Ivan murmured. I nodded.

"Indeed." Dimitri snapped to attention, locking eyes with me.

"What do you need us to do, sir?" He asked.

"You are to ride for Vladimir's pass," I told him. "If you make haste I believe you will be able to cut them off at the pass and ambush the enemy-you have the element of surprise on your side." Dimitri nodded.

"Very well. We will make our preparations tonight, and ride out at dawn. If we hurry, it should take us three days to get to the pass."

"Excellent. I have faith in you, but I am afraid that I must leave you quite quickly. We have preparations of our own to be making." Dimitri nodded.

"I'll walk with you to the gate," he told me, and I saw fondness and affection in his eyes-Mikhail was his uncle, wasn't he?

"No need," I told him firmly. "I'm sure you have plenty to get on with."

"Of course," he replied immedeately. "Tell Hathaway and-"he paused, eyes filled with indecision-"and Miller to come, would you?" He asked. I nodded.

"Of course. Good luck, Dimitri. Ivan," I nodded to him, and they both raised a hand in farewell as I rode for the forest where Lissa was waiting. My mind was racing. _He said Miller_. He knew Lissa's-well, Andre's-last name was Dragomir, but he covered for us. Or, at least he thought he did. He knew how much trouble we'd be in if Mikhail found out, and he protected us. My heart warmed at the thought, and then went cold as I remembered how blatantly we were deceiving him right now. I mean, disguising ourselves as his commanding officer and giving false orders…It couldn't get any worse, could it? I slid off of Flossie, and said Lissa waiting in the shadows.

"How'd it go?" She said eagerly. I shuddered.

"A little too well. I don't ever want to have to do that again," I informed her. "Change me back, please." I felt a slight pain all over, felt my features shift, my body shrink, and within seconds I was back to the familiar body of Tom Hathaway.

"Go back," Lissa told her mare, and Flossie trotted happily back off to where Finn was grazing. I ran a shaking hand through my hair.

"You're…incredible," I told her. "C'mon, Belikov wants a meeting," I told her.

"About what?" Lissa said curiously. I rolled my eyes.

"What Mikhail told him, duh," I drawled. She laughed a little evilly.

"Oh, yeah." I was happy it had gone so well, but the sheer enormity of what we had done seriously scared me. I looked around, my eyes resting on the faces of my friends and comrades. All of their lives were now on my shoulders. This could work, or it could eventuate with the most disastrous of consequences. I was so shocked that had only taken a bit of magic and few simple words, and then hi-ho, hi ho, it was off to war we'd go.

* * *

**ONE DAY LATER**

By Dimitri's estimates, we were doing well, covering quite a lot of time. We were just clearing the Vladimir forest, and intended on stopping at a nearby village for supplies, and then continuing up the mountain to the pass. Lissa and I hadn't spoken in a while, mainly because the rest of them had decided to pass the time by talking about their girls back home. Christian was still adamant in his convictions that the Princess Dragomir was the prettiest girl in the world, a revelation that had sent Mason and I into fits of laughter, and then into hysterics when he offered to fight me to protect the princesses honour. Eventually, Eddie had to throw a snowball at him to get him to shut the hell up about her, and Lissa had helped as so not to seem distanced, but she couldn't wipe the smile from her face.

"What about you, Belikov?" Adrian drawled, making my stomach to a flip flop of anticipation. Ivan laughed, giving Dimitri a generous dig in the ribs.

"This old bachelor? A girl? Are you mad? He's married only to his job, his duty, his honour, his countr-"

"Shut up," Dimitri advised him, but grinned anyway. I couldn't help but breathe out a small, quiet sigh of relief, which did not go unnoticed by either of my best friends, who both smirked and gave me little side-glances. I pulled a branch of a tree, letting the snow-laden branch ping them both in the face.

"Hey, what about you, Hathaway?" Eddie called. I faltered for a moment.

"What d'you mean?" He rolled his eyes.

"You telling me you don't have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, she's a midget," I heard Ivan mutter, just loud enough for me to hear. I pelted him with the snowball I had been saving for Adrian, but as if he had anticipated this, he ducked and the snowball hit Alto in the back of the neck. The short man jumped up in his saddle as if he'd been electrified, and gave a little shriek, much to the general amusement.

"Ooh, shit shit shit," I muttered, sinking low in my saddle. Ivan turned around and smirked a "you're soooo dead" at me, but Alto decided he thought it had been Sydney, and proceeded to give him a lecture about insubordination and respect. I mouthed an "I owe you one" to Sydney, who rolled his eyes.

"So d'you like the brunettes or the blondes?" Christian asked me and I frowned.

"It really doesn't matter. As long as they've got a great personality and an appreciation for literature," I said, a little sarcastically. A few people laughed, and Lissa shot me a sad look. Much as I didn't want to admit it, they were all the same. They judged on a looks-only basis, nothing else was important, and it saddened me. I noticed with unease that Ivan was watching me intently, a little half-frown on his face. I shuddered. Did he know something? Had he guessed?

"Hey look, I can see the smoke from the village!" Adrian announced, to a few cheers all-round. We were all hungry and tired, and in need of some rest in the safety of the village. As the trees disappeared, we realised something was very, very wrong.

Before us did not sit the pretty little welcoming town we had expected.

Before us sat a smoking, burning _massacre_.

* * *

For a few minutes, all any of us could do was sit and watch. The buildings had been burnt to the ground, smashed, ruined beyond repair. Bodies were splayed everywhere-here and there, a few Strigoi, but mostly the bodies of innocent men, women and children. Even Dimitri seemed lost for words at the sight of the senseless tragedy that had occurred here.

"There will be no survivors," he said gravely, his eyes still locked on the charred town. A shudder ran up my back. What if our home had received a similar fate? What if we failed at Vladimir's pass, and the Strigoi were allowed to continue doing this, ravaging the countryside and laying death and waste to everything they could see? We could not allow it. We would not allow it, I told myself, feeling stick with the stench of death and smoke. Ivan took a deep breath and nodded to Dimitri.

"We must ride on," he announced. "We can not afford the time it would take to clean up this town. It is much more important we avenge their murderers," he said coldly, for the first time, serious. **(I was going to kill Mikhail off here, but decided I didn't want to because he's Dimitri's uncle and Dimka kind of needs somebody like a father-figure)** So we glided through the town feeling unattached, disjointed, like this was all some kind of horrible nightmare we would wake up to later, and find ourselves back at the camp.

But that would not happen. Perhaps it was the anger, the eagerness to avenge so many innocent lives that was fuelling us, but we made it up to the Pass about an hour before the sun would begin to set-about four o'clock. It was an intimidating location-high mountains that looked like they would at any moment cause an avalanche that would kill us all, sending us over the cliffs we had just climbed, surrounded the basin-like land that was high on two sides, and about maybe two kilometres wide. It seemed to me both beautiful and merciless-enchanting and unforgiving. With weary, tired hearts we set up camp in almost complete silence. It didn't feel right to talk in the face of such an atrocity. We had just settled down to a sober meal when Dimitri stood, shading his hand and squinting out over the horizon.

"Do you see that?" He said to Ivan. It was what appeared to be a black figure making its way over the mountain and into the basin below. A few moments of tense silence later, Ivan replied, lowering the crudely made telescope.

"It's a lone strigoi," he informed Dimitri. "Could be a scout, could just be a loner." A few of our archers drew back their bows, but Dimitri stopped them, looking grim.

"Hold your fire," he ordered, staring out onto the horizon.

"Why?" Ivan hissed. "Just let them fire. Why wait?" Dimitri didn't reply, only continued to stare out at the figure. Slowly, a dark shape began to form around the opposite end of the basin. It took us a few minutes to work out what it was, and then everything became very clear as the shapes began to move. Fear struck me solidly in the stomach, and I struggled to breathe as the enormity of this situation finally dawned on us.

"That's why," Dimitri said grimly. _The strigoi army had arrived: a day ahead of schedule._

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**ZOMG! So…Lissa and Rose committed another crime with Spirit, Rose is fast falling for Dimitri, Ivan knows something's up and the Strigoi are here! Pretty exciting chapter guys, leave some reviews with your thoughts!**

**ALSO: Whose POV'S would you like to see the battle from? I've already decided Rose will be one, but y'all can vote in the reviews for the other POV you'd like to see.**

**Em xx**


	10. Chapter 10: Avalanches and Relevations

**I decided in the end to write this chapter as a RPOV so I could get it out a bit quicker. Enjoy!**

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_**Previously:**__ Fear struck me solidly in the stomach, and I struggled to breathe as the enormity of this situation finally dawned on us._

_"That's why," Dimitri said grimly. The strigoi army had arrived: a day ahead of schedule._

* * *

It's not often that four-hundred odd people are completely still and completely quiet all at the same time. I guess seeing your imminent death arrive in the form of strigoi can do that to you. The entire camp was frozen, horror struck, gazing at the approaching army. We had known it was coming, but it was still a massive shock. Dimitri swung around, his eyes blazing.

"What are you waiting for?" He yelled. "Positions!" Immediately there was a scramble as people mounted horses, collected weapons, got cannons ready, found armour and stakes. I mounted Finn and slung a spare stake into my boot, another in my hand. My breath caught as I looked back at the impending massacre. There were too many of them. Far, far too many. Even Ivan looked grim-faced. A deadly hush had fallen over the group. We were the front line-the only thing protecting the northern villages from complete anhilliation. If we died today, all of them would die tomorrow.

"Cannons," Dimitri yelled, and I winced as the sounds of cannons firing burst past my eardrums and startled the strigoi, but they were too fast for the cannons to have much of an impact. What we needed was force-sheer brute force, combined with smarts. Dimitri swung around, looking very calm. I noticed that in the confusion that had followed the strigoi appearance, he had not had the time to put any armour of his own on, despite ordering everyone else to. My blood ran cold, and I had a premonition that it was going to cost him dearly. I glanced at Lissa, whose face was the same shade as the snow, but her jade eyes glinted determination, her mouth pursed into a line of concentration. She was struggling to See, and right now I could tell she didn't like what she Saw.

"Nobody retreats today," Dimitri said coolly. "If we die, we die fighting. The strigoi leader himself is at their front, and two other leaders are on each flank. Do your best to take them out." My mind blurred after that as the archers fired their first lot of arrows, the first division running out to meet the enemy. Ivan had gone out with the first line, Dimitri had stayed with the second.

"Load those last cannons," he told somebody, and they scurried off with two under an arm. I squinted, looking down at the battle we were now riding fast towards.

"We're doing this wrong," I muttered to myself. "What the hell are we doing?" I was hit with one of those possible-genius, possible delinquent ideas, and my eyes lit up.

"Dragomir!" I yelled to Lissa, and her head snapped up, eyes full of understanding.

"It's the only way," her voice said in my head. Simultaneously, we whirled our horses around and galloped back towards our campsite. I leaned down off of Finn and grabbed the two cannons from the armsman, then swung around to Lissa.

"Grab that cooking pot!" I yelled to her. "The glare from the snow, it could work!" Understanding dawned on her, and she grabbed the huge, disc-like silver pan, then wheeled Flossie around to the farthest high side of the basin.

"Oi, listen up!" I yelled to the archers. "Get fire on those arrows, we need to play their weaknesses." I saw the possibility dawn on them, but didn't look back to see if they had followed my advice. I was galloping to the other high point of the basin, vaulting off Fin to study the angle of the cliffs opposite me. Strigoi were still streaming out from under them. Without a second thought I grabbed a match from my pack, struck it on my boot and aimed the cannon at the cliff. With the explosion my hands jerked and my aim slipped, and the cannon exploded in the midst of the fray, sending a few bodies sky high. I feverently hoped they weren't ours. I steadied myself, looking at my target. I now saw that the archers were using fire, and it was working-the striogi were falling like dominoes, or so distracted that our soldiers could decapitate them with relative ease. Lissa's glare idea was also working-I could hear the howls of strigoi from here as the sun burned them, killing or debilitating them. But now it was my turn. I had to get this right-even with the glare and the fire, it was this that would be the decider of our fate. I took careful aim about halfway up the snowy cliff, and lit the match. As the cannon exploded, I thrust my shoulder into it, pain numbing my right side, but keeping the cannon steady. I watched with strange fascination as it penetrated exactly where I had intended it to go, but there was no explosion. My heart sank as I clambered onto Finn, preparing to go back into the clamour of life and death below. I had overestimated the power of the cannon, clearly.

Only I didn't. At that moment, the entire freaking cliff _exploded_, there was a cracking, thundering sound from that area and I watched as rocks and snow began to slide. I grinned, but then my mouth went very dry as I realised what had happened. I had intended for it to kill the strigoi with the rocks, to distract and panic them. What I hadn't intended to happen was a freaking avalanche.

_Well, oops._

Now, just as a fun little further competition for extra bonus points, we needed to get our people as far away from that as possible. I judged that if we could all make it back to the edge of the basin and to the right, up the high side, we would miss the avalanche. Already I saw strigoi swept up in it, screaming, panicking. Excellent. I saw our army turning their backs on the fight and trying desperately to outrun the avalanche, realising where they needed to get to. The strigoi had no such choice-we would kill them all at such close range. I galloped for Lissa's side of the basin, pulling Mason and (reluctantly) Jesse Zelokos up behind me.

"You crazy son of a bitch, Hathaway!" Zelokos howled.

"You only just noticed?" Mason said dryly. I was glad to see that by the time we got there, about two-thirds of us were assembled, just very narrowly out of the path of the avalanche and falling strigoi. Ivan galloped up behind us, dragging with him Stan and a few others. I looked around, glad to see Lissa safe and feeling a little light-headed with the success of it all.

"That…"Ivan started, looking amazed. "That was brilliant, Hathaway." And then to my shock, all of them-three hundred and fifty or so, I judged with a twinge of pain we'd had maybe forty or fifty casualties- erupted into applause and cheers.

"Oh, don't," I mumbled. Ivan clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"You saved us, Hathaway," he said kindly. "Without that bit of thinking, and the fire on the arrows-and the idea of using the glare-without that, we would all be dead right now. We just have to sit tight until that-"he gestured to the storm of snow and rocks-"subsides, and then we can go over st Vladimir's pass." I nodded, feeling an immense sense of relief.

Remember what I said about catastrophe making a conscious effort to follow me and destroy the somewhat successful moments of my life? Yep, well, clearly surviving the strigoi army and cheating death wasn't enough of a narrow escape for the sicko in the sky, because as I looked around, trying to count heads, I noticed that one very important one was missing. I turned instinctively towards the river of snow plunging down the mountain, and shuddered when I saw it.

Dimitri had been caught up in the midst of the avalanche, and what's more, he was heading straight for the edge.

* * *

I didn't even take the time to think. I grabbed a coil of rope lying in an open rucksack and swung back onto Finn, charging straight for Dimitri. The level of trust that horse in me clearly had no bounds, because he did his best to push through the snow fiercely, like he, too, knew how important this rescue was.

"Dimitri, grab the rope," I screamed, and his eyes flashed towards me, holding a strange kind of connection. He nodded, lunging for the rope, but as he did, a huge mass of rock and snow came thundering down, connecting solidly with his head and I watched, horrified, as he slumped. No. No, I was not going to let him die. I pushed forwards again, looping my foot in the stirrup so I could lean towards him. I managed to grab one of his arms and tried desperately to pull him up onto Finn, but he was far too heavy, even though I was much stronger than before. We tumbled towards the edge and I gave one last, desperate effort, managing just to pull him sideways onto Finn. But it wasn't enough. We were too close to the edge, it was going too fast. Finn whinnied in fear, I screamed, and heard the shouts of my comrades from the mountain. After that, we fell off the edge of the mountain, and I closed my eyes, and knew no more.

* * *

It was a while later when I realised my eyes were actually closed, and flinched. Had I died? I didn't remember feeling us hit the ground. There had been no pain, only fear and darkness. I blinked, opening my eyes, and my stomach plummeted. Was I dead? Nope, that would have been too easy, wouldn't it? I could now hear voices from above us and realised we had managed to find a godsend in the way of a small little inlet in the mountain. Dimitri was sprawled next to me, completely out of it. A familiar redhead leaned out over the mountain and spotted me.

"He's alive!" I heard Mason shout. "Don't panic, we're going to pull you up!" He yelled down at me.

"Finn?" I croaked, my heart pounding, looking down below me into the white abyss, the thought of my loyal companion falling to his death far too much for me.

"Up here and being a pain in the ass," Mason called back. "We just managed to winch him up." Ivan's face appeared.

"Is Dimitri…"he trailed off. I peered at him, and realised he was breathing.

"He's alive," I replied.

"Ros-"Mason cleared his throat. "Right," he corrected himself. "We're going to throw you these ropes. Tie it around yourself." I did so quickly, then glanced at Dimitri.

"What about lardy arse over here?" There was a pause. "Hang on, I've got an idea."

"Another one? Oh, brilliant," I swore I heard Eddie mutter. I undid the rope around my waist and made a loop, pulling Belikov's unconscious body through half of it so he'd dangle face-down. I tightened it around his body and yelled Mason to tighten it so Dimitri swung, only the people up the top preventing him from falling.

"Get ready, I'm going to jump on," I muttered.

"Don't, it's too dangerous, we'll come back for you," Eddie called. I shook my head grimly.

"Not going to work. Any minute now this inlet's going to collapse, there's loads of snow and shit on top of it. Don't drop us, now," I yelled, and took the proverbial leap of faith. It was the happiest moment of my life when my hands grasped that rope and I put my foot on either side of Dimitri's back, stifling a chuckle. Hardly an elegant end to a triumphant battle, but he never had to know.

As they pulled us clear of the cave I watched in horror as it gave way, and thanked my lucky stars I had jumped when I had.

"How you doing?" Sydney called, and I gulped.

"Um. Bad time to discover I'm terrified of heights?"

"Hang on, nearly there," Mason reassured me, and after a few more agonizing minutes, we reached the top and with a final tug went sprawling over the safe edge, landing in a heap of bodies,Mason with his arms around me tightly, and Finn making a general nuisance of himself by licking and nuzzling any part of my body he could see.

"Though we'd lost you," Mason muttered.

"Try harder next time," I grinned back. There was a groan from beside me, and I saw Dimitri look up in a daze.

"What-the-fuck-happened?" He groaned. "And why do I get the feeling it had something to do with an avalanche and Hathaway?" He said, but then grinned, standing up to pull me to my feet. I was relieved to see he was unhurt, save from a huge bruise on his temple and a few minor scratches.

"You are, without a doubt, the craziest person I've ever met," he said, warmth in his eyes. "And I owe you my life."

"Phah," I grumbled, then looked around. "How-how many casualties?"

"Fifteen," Ivan said quietly. "Two dozen more injured." My heart sank as I realised one very important face was missing.

"Andre?" I asked.

"Injured, but nothing too serious," Mason told me. I nodded, but then Eddie stepped forwards and pointed to the ground near my feet.

"Are you bleeding?" He asked me concernedly, and my hand instinctively went to my chest, and I winced. I had forgotten about the injury caused by the cannon, and had clearly sustained a few more after going unconscious. I pulled my hand away, and it was drenched in blood.

"It's not that bad," I said, grimacing, but suddenly realised I was struggling to breathe, and it felt like I might have broken a rib. I remembered being rushed into a medic tent.

"C'mon, Hathaway, hang on," I heard a familiar voice paired with concerned chocolate-brown eyes murmur, before I was, once again, in a blissful, dreamless sleep.

* * *

**DPOV**

Ivan glared at me somewhere between amusement and irritation. Clearly, the novelty of an avalanche and a successful battle had already worn off, he was back to his usual snarky, annoying self.

"Are you trying to start another avalanche?" He asked me, signalling to the path I was wearing in the snow from my pacing outside the medic tent. I scowled at him.

"No, I think we've had more than enough of that for one day."

"Dude, just chill out. He's going to be fine. One does not survive a strigoi attack, an avalanche and a two-hundred meter drop to be killed by a little frostbite and a few broken ribs."

"When you put it that way," I muttered, dropping to sit beside him, joining Hathaway's large group of friends in their vigil. The rest of the camp was busy clearing away lunch and making preparations to set off again- it was nearing midday by now, it was the safest time to set off. We had spent the morning burying the dead, tending the injured, replenishing our supplies. It was a terrible loss, but if I was honest, it was a much less cost than I had ever imagined. Hathaway and Dragomir had saved us. I now took back everything I'd ever said or thought doubtfully about them- the fact Dragomir was a Moroi, that Hathaway was underage-it didn't matter anymore. I cast my mind back to the cryptic conversation with Ambrose at court, which seemed now like a lifetime away. What had he said? _"Be not hasty to turn away an unlikely warrior. A single grain of rice may tip the scales in or out of your favour."_ Now, though I'd scoffed originally, I understood. And so many lives had been saved by them, who was I to doubt the Seer's wisdom? Suddenly, our healer, a young moroi man, ducked out of the tent Hathaway was occupying with a grave expression.

"The physical injuries are not themselves great. However I cannot heal them."

"Why?" Ivan demanded. He hesitated.

"It appears that both of them-Hathaway and Miller-are under the influence of powerful Spirit magic. They have been cursed, I believe, and this magic is so strong it rejects the healing magic. I do not know what the consequences will be if I lift the curse. It could be compulsion, it could be some Strigoi magic that is much more sinister."

"Andre is Moroi, and a Dragomir," I blurted out, and noted that Ivan looked unsurprised_-note to self, ask him about that_. "So he may have protective magic cast over both himself and Hathaway. It wouldn't surprise me."

"So I have your permission to remove the magic?" I nodded.

"Do it," I said hoarsely, feeling a strange sense of apprehension, like I was meddling with things too far out of my control, that I was about to get answers to questions I wasn't ready to ask yet. He nodded.

"Very well." He ducked back into the tent and I saw silver magic shimmer then disappear at the crack briefly, and the same happened for the tent Andre was in. There was a long pause from within, and by now the entire camp was waiting with bated breath. The seer appeared again, this time looking positively ashen.

"Captain Belikov," he said hoarsely. "You-no, this is impossible. No mage as young as that-impossible-impossible," he stammered.

"What?" Ivan and I both yelled. I noticed that Ashford, Hathaway's friend, was pale, as if he was preparing himself for something he had known was coming. The seer swallowed hard.

"I believe you should see for yourselves, one at a time."

"You first," I muttered to Ivan, who walked in with some kind of emotion on his face, as if he was about to find out if he'd had the right answer all along. I began to panic. What was going on? Was he dead? Injured? What had happened? What did Ivan know, what did Mason Ashford know? Ivan was only inside for a moment before ducking back out, a peaceful expression on his face as if his fears had been confirmed. He rubbed his eyes, and shook his head.

"I thought-perhaps-but I can't believe it," he murmured. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to tell me, but he seemed lost in his own thoughts and was having an intense eye-contact-only conversation with Ashford. My patience expired, then snapped.

"This is bullshit, I'm going in to see it myself," I muttered. I stalked into the tent, my eyes taking some time to adjust to the darkness-it was very dimly lit. Once they did, I frowned. Nothing seemed untoward. Then I froze, seeing the silhouette, seeing the devastatingly different yet glaringly the same facial features. Wide, afraid chocolate-brown eyes stared back at me, half-hidden under long, wavy brown hair. Her clearly extremely feminine body was, I realised, trembling.

_It was her. The girl. My girl on the horse. She was here. She was Tom Hathaway_. I didn't even realise I had dropped to my knees until I was at eye level with her, my mouth wide open with shock. She averted her eyes, allowing a curtain of hair to fall, separating us. I acted instinctively, coming closer to brush it away so I could see her features clearly.

"You," I breathed. "All this time, it was you." She brought her chin up to meet my eyes, her gaze afraid yet somehow determined, brave yet bright with a few tears.

"Dimitri…I can explain," she breathed.

* * *

**BAM! Worst cliffy ever, I hear you screaming, and I agree with you but I just couldn't help doing it. Did I do this scene from Mulan justice? I really hope so. Next chapter by Thursday at the latest! Until then, you know what to do-review!**

**Em xx**


	11. Chapter 11: A Life for a Life

**Ahh! So I know I said Thursday, and I HATE not making good on my promises, but life got a little complicated...I'm gonna try to have the next chapter up either tonight or tomorrow to make up for it! Enjoy it!**

* * *

All this time, I had known it was going to catch up with us. But now that it had happened, it was still a shock. I was still as unprepared for dealing with it as the day we'd arrived. Dimitri was staring at me, his eyes wide. I had for the first time rendered him speechless. He didn't even look angry, so I jumped in and took this chance to speak.

"My name is Rosemarie Mazur," I said quietly. "I'm twenty years old and I did this to save my father's life." He was still studying me, studying me as if I was the answer to a riddle he had been working on for a long time. I flinched when his hand reached out and touched my cheek, not daring to succumb to my every emotion and relax into the warm touch, his spicy yet warm scent, his deep, confusion-laced brown eyes. Tentatively, I brought my hand up to touch his, and the little spark of electricity jolted his gaze away from me. Suddenly his eyes darkened and the serene expression on his face twisted into a grimace of disbelief.

"You lied," he hissed. "You lied to everyone. And after all this time-I thought I could trust you!" He yelled. "After all this time, you were just-"I narrowed my eyes and stood to face him.

"Just?" I said dangerously. "I'll give you just, Belikov. I'm _just_ a normal person, who, _just_ like everyone else here_, just _volunteered in the place of somebody too weak to come." Darkness flashed in his eyes.

"You're a woman," he spat. I rolled my eyes.

"Wow, Dimitri, what gave it away?" I drawled, throwing the heavy blanket from around my shoulders, under which I only had a thin pair of leggings and an undershirt. I would swear to my dying day that for a second, the deepest glance of lust overtook the anger in his eyes as his gaze swept up and down my short frame before his jaw tightened.

"You are nothing but a weak liar," he spat at me. I snarled, then shoved him backwards, hard. "Newsflash, buddy, just because I happen to have a slightly different anatomy than you does not mean all I'm good for is sitting around doing the fucking cross-stitch!" I yelled. He grabbed my wrist, dragging me out of the tent in front of the interested crowd. I heard a collective gasp go up, then silence fell over the camp.

"Do you want me to spell it out?" I shouted. "I have a V-A-G-I-N-A. Big fucking whoop!" I screeched. I watched as Ivan's solemn expression cracked and he succumbed to helpless laughter on the ground, as if he was watching every single one of his biggest dreams play out in real life. Dimitri swung around, face blazing with anger.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He yelled. "To lie to your country, your elders, your captains?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I shot back. "To judge me on what I'm supposed to be. _Remember_?" I yelled at him, and I knew he was thinking of our conversation just before the first attack. "You are no longer my captain. So I speak to you now as an equal," I spat, meeting his hard gaze. I took a deep breath, then continued. "Like it or not, and I can see you do not, I am equally as good as every single man standing here." He sneered.

"That means nothing. You decieved your way into here. Nothing else matters."

"Not that I worked my ass off to be here? Not that I risked my life to save another's? Not that if it wasn't for me, you'd all be lying dead in the snow right now?" His eyes narrowed and he stalked over to where Finn was looking on anxiously, drawing my sword from its sheath, making my heart stop and my stomach spin. I knew what the law was. I knew what I had done.

"Dimka," Ivan said levelly. "Stop."

"It's the law," he returned fiercely, and swung back around to me, meeting my eyes coldly. "You have broken countless laws of this empire. You are aware of the penalties even one of your crimes carries."

"Dimitri for god's sake," Ivan snapped, stalking over to give his friend a smack on the temple. "Cool it, use your brain, would you?" Dimiti looked towards his friend incredulously.

"Did you know, Ivan?" He asked. Ivan shrugged.

"She sleeptalks," was all he offered.

"Anybody else know?" Dimitri shouted sarcastically. "Anybody else have something to confess?"

"I knew," Mason drawled, and walked to stand next to me. To my surprise, Sydney stepped forwards.

"I didn't know," he said quietly. "But I do have something I guess it's time to share." For a second, her whole body shimmered, and then her features began that strange shift, becoming more feminine, her hair grew slightly longer until a pretty young girl stood before us, her eyes shining triumphantly.

"What…the…fuck?" Dimitri muttered. Sydney grinned at me.

"Hey, Rose. You weren't the only one with the big ideas." I grinned back, still trying to get over my own surprise.

"But you're a dhamphir," I frowned. "That's Moroi magic, who's your…"Adrian grinned, shoving past a few people to sling an arm around Sydney's shoulders, who blushed scarlett.

"Bad time to remember I'm a Moroi?" He drawled. "See, I decided to volunteer, but my little dhamphir wouldn't let me come alone, so I had to bring her with me." He winked at Dimitri. "You mad yet, buddy?" Dimitri did not reply, but swung around back to me with a cold look in his eyes.

"This is all your fault. Your trickery, your lies-you are the one to blame." He levelled the sword at me, pointing it directly towards my throat. I willed myself not to back away, meeting his gaze wish a defiant one of my own, challenging him to do it, but at the same time terrified he would.

"I so wouldn't do that if I were you," hissed a woman's voice from behind me. Dimitri didn't bother to look, and the sword was raised. I was frozen to the spot, unable to move. I was loathe to admit it, but I was terrified.

"Says who?" He growled, his voice slightly taunting.

"Says Crown Princess Vasalissa Dragomir," the voice returned. "Now step the fuck away from her or I will hurt you," Lissa snapped, and every head turned. She crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't want to do it, but I will if you mess with her." Dimitri lowered the sword and turned to look dumbstruck at Lissa, looking unsure if he should yell at her or fall to his knees.

"You're…you're Vasalissa Dragomir?" He said, stunned. "Presumed dead or kidnapped Vasalissa Dragomir, the one half of the army is out looking for?" She shrugged.

"Deal with it, baby. And the name's Lissa. And before you start, no, Rose didn't kidnap me," she sighed. She walked to stand in front of Dimitri, crossing her arms and staring him down.I was still, like Dimitri, openmouthed that the heir to the throne had just told Dimitri to "deal with it", but then concluded my best friend was just that awesome, and remembered how much I loved her all over again.

"Now, I'm not going to start pulling rank or anything," she said sweetly. "So let's just leave it at "if you hurt either of us, I will fuck you up pretty badly" she smiled. "Okie-dokies?" I bit my lip to stop laughing, knowing that Lissa was the only person in the world who would say "fuck" and "okie-dokies" in the same sentence.

"I cannot accept either of you back into this battalion," Dimitri said coldly, but Lissa had shocked him into a little bit more respect. She rolled her eyes.

"With the temper tantrum you just pulled, I highly doubt either of us would want back in," she snapped back, crossing her arms. "And I lied, I've decided I am going to start pulling rank, it's so much fun. Captain Belikov, you will take your battalion back to the royal court," she ordered. "I am sure they will be waiting to congratulate you." Dimitri shot me a glare that said _you-are-the-bane-of-my-existence, any I will wish every day for your untimely death. _I responded with a snort of indifference, but the glare had hurt me inside more than I cared to say.

"I must, of course, escort you back, Princess."

"You may do nothing of the sort," Lissa returned. "Rose and I can see to ourselves."

"I'm with you guys," Sydney muttered, pulling Adrian along behind her. Mason nodded, and walked to stand with our little group. Dimitri looked at the sword in his hand, and a strange expression crossed his face. He threw the sword to the snow at my feet, then raised his eyes to meet my gaze. They were full of emotion, full of unspoken promises. They ensured me that we still had a score to settle, that this argument was far from over.

"A life for a life," he said quietly, and then, just like that, turned his back on me.

* * *

TWO HOURS LATER the spirits in our mini-camp were mixed. Adrian and Sydney were busy sucking face whilst Mason and Lissa were deep in conversation. I was snuggled up next to Finn, who I had convinced Lissa to let inside our magically-enhanced tent- he had sustained a few injuries from the fall and I was anxious to make sure he was alright. My emotions were in a complete jumble. I was relieved the truth was out finally, but I was crushed at Dimitri's reaction. I would miss him. I would miss all of them. Lissa turned away from Mason and looked at me, sensing my mood. Gracefully, she stood, walked towards me, then sat, enveloping me in her arms.

"Hey, Rosie. It's okay," she said softly. I sighed, then nodded.

"Yeah, I know. Just hurts a little." I angled my face to look at her serene expression. "Did Christian talk to you?" Her features twisted.

"No," she said quietly. "He-he just stood there. He didn't say anything." A voice inside my head told me it was probably for a different reason than she thought, but I didn't say so. Adrian broke away from Sydney and scooted up next to me, slinging an arm around me.

"What is this, hug-a-rose day?" I grumbled. He grinned.

"Little lady, for what it's worth, Belikov was dealing with some strange shit," he informed me. "He was completely torn. What you said…the way you stood up to him, it confused him, big time." I sighed.

"I guess." Suddenly, Lissa's body next to me froze, and she gripped my hand. My gaze flashed to her, and I realised what was happening. She was Seeing something again. Her face was pale and frozen, eyes staring out beyond us all, seeing hundreds of things we could not. A hush fell as we waited for her to come back to us, and I was relieved when she blinked, then relaxed. She turned her jade gaze on me slowly.

"We have to go to court," she said slowly.

"Why?" Sydney and I asked in unison.

"There's a second offensive coming." Lissa swallowed hard. "They're going to kill Tatiana. We have to get there and warn them."

"They won't listen to us!" I hissed. She exhaled slowly.

"We're going to have to make them," she said softly. "The band of strigoi are coming fast. By the time we arrive they'll already be there. They have a mage with them, and if we don't move he'll sense us."

"So what does that mean?" Mason asked. Lissa set her jaw, looking grim.

"It means that if we don't get off this mountain by tomorrow night, we'll all be dead."

* * *

**What did you think of the confrontation? I enjoyed writing it a lot :) Review! xox**


	12. Chapter 12: A Princess,A Parade & Prison

**As promised, I updated today, yay for me! Oh and by the way, guys, I know Sydney is supposed to be a human, but I didn't think the human/vampire divide was really necessary in this story but I wanted Sydney in it, so…that's the reasoning behind that. Enjoy! x**

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**THREE DAYS LATER**

We had made excellent time for the past three days-even though Belikov and the others had a day's ground on us, Mason had figured us to only be about five hours behind. We were a smaller group than them, so we'd been able to take more chances, pack up quicker, so Lissa's Sight had paid off. It was about two hours from sunset, and we had long left behind the frost-covered ground in favour of greener rolling hills-it was amazing what a difference a couple hundred miles made in the temperature. Lissa was frowning out at the horizon as we trotted steadily, flanked by me on one side and Mason on the other. We had decided we weren't taking any chances with her safety, much to her disgust.

"How far now?" Sydney asked. Lissa shrugged.

"Not long. Look, you can see the outline of the palace." She pointed in front of us and we exchanged hopeful smiles. Hopefully, hopefully, we wouldn't be too late. Lissa quietened whilst the others chatted animatedly, mostly about how-I quote- "_badly we are going to bust Belikov's balls up" _once they got there. I nudged Finn closer to Flossie-he didn't need much encouragement-and caught her eye.

"Liss, what's wrong?" I asked softly.

"It's nothing," she sighed. I narrowed my eyes.

"Nothing my ass. Tell me," I groaned. She shrugged.

"I…I can't help feeling this is the last part of the adventure for me. As soon as I get there, they're going to go ape shit. The scandal, the aristocracy, the politics…"She rubbed her eyes. "Tatiana won't ever let me leave her sight again. Not after this whole thing."

"She'll have to get through me first," I said strongly. "And you, as well. C'mon, Liss! Stand up for what you want," I urged her. She smiled a little bit.

"Yeah. I guess it would help if I was sure what I wanted. All my life, all I've ever wanted was something worthy of believing in." I nodded, my gaze settling on the horizon. We were so alike. Devastatingly different in most ways, of course, but we just understood each other so well. And though I'd never admit it, there was a part of me-bigger than I wanted to admit-that didn't want her to go to court, because I knew she would be ripped away from me.

"You're stronger than you know, you know," I told her with a half smile.

"Only because of you," she told me quietly. "I would be lost without you." I grinned.

"Yeah, and I'd be dead. Belikov would have cut my head for not letting him do that, by the way."

"Actually, he wouldn't have," Adrian called cheerfully. I turned to glare at him.

"What part of you didn't realise this was a private conversation?" I demanded. "You have no social skills. You need to work on that." He shrugged.

"Does it look like I care? But anyways, back to the original reason I stopped pretending I wasn't eavesedropping"-I stuck my tongue out-"Belikov wouldn't have hurt you, Rose," he said, perfectly seriously.

"I find that slightly hard to believe," I snorted. He shrugged.

"Nah. He would have screamed and stomped his feet around a bit more, maybe broke some shit, but he would have died before he ever hurt you." I raised my eyebrows.

"How would you know?" I shook my head. "Right, bad question. Spirit magic." Although I shrugged it off, Adrian's words raised my spirits a little bit, and just as the sunset was beginning to descend, we arrived at the palace gates. I noticed Lissa pull her cloak around her head a little tighter, clearly fearing she'd be recognised. A familiar looking guard looked up at us while opening the gates, and I remembered him from the day of the announcement, back in our village. He frowned.

"Hey! Should I…remember you?" I said slowly.

"No," Lissa said sweetly, her voice laced with compulsion. "No, you've never any of us before, ever." He shook his head, nodded.

"Right, of course. Sorry, ma'am," he apologised, bowing and then opening the gates for us. I glanced at Lissa in admiration.

"Once upon a time, you used to have boundaries," I informed her. She smirked, tossing her shiny blonde hair.

"Once upon a time. What a load of crap. Didn't know you subscribed to that BS, Rose," she smirked. I rolled my eyes, glad to see her in better spirits.

"Watch who's talking, princess." She narrowed her eyes playfully, and would have retorted had we not set eyes on the most colourful, brilliant sight in the world.

It was…Well, a celebration fit for a king. Or at the least, a group of heroes. Which I guess was the whole point. Streamers and banners adorned the cobbled streets, people filling them, dancing, clapping, cheering as they made their way towards what I assumed to be the palace courtyard. We exchanged glances.

"What about the horses?" Sydney asked.

"We can tie them up over there," Lissa said, pointing to an empty hitching post. We swung off, all grabbing our respective weapons then following the crowd to where they congregated. The crowd made me feel claustrophobic- there were at least ten thousand people there, if not more. My heart leapt when I realised I could see the battalion.

"They're coming this way!" I hissed. "Look, they're coming through the main street. We have to get to them." My stomach flip-flopped unpleasantly as I saw a familiar figure.

"Look, it's Dimitri and Ivan. C'mon." We took off, shoving through the masses of people and being rewarded with curses and obscenities. But as we were kind of in the middle of saving the day, we didn't really care. Before long, I managed to stumble my way to the front of the crowd. A pissed-off passerby pushed me forcefully and I was thrown into the midst of the parade, slamming straight into-

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Dimitri barked, pulling me to my feet before quickly letting go. I drew a deep breath and grimaced.

"There's a plot to kill the queen, there are strigoi here and they're going to assassinate her sometime tonight," I said, all in one breath. He arched an eyebrow and shoved me out of the way.

"You are insane. You should be in a mental institution."

"Hi, Rose!" Ivan said cheerfully.

"Dimitri, you have to listen to her!" Sydney said urgently. "This threat is real, Lissa Saw it."

"Oh?" Dimitri challenged. "Tell me then, the details. Where will the attack be? Who will lead it? When will it take place?" I gritted my teeth, but said nothing. He nodded.

"Exactly. You don't know. Go home, Rosemarie," he said stiffly, and I resisted the urge to throttle him, not that I probably would have succeeded.

"Hell. No," I hissed, and, with my typical –fuck-the-consequences attitude, tackled him to the ground.

"Jesus Christ, you're mental!" He yelled, and threw me off of him. I heard him shout something to a nearby group of guards, keeping hold of my shirt. I twisted away from him.

"Let me go, you prick," I bit out, and he smiled nastily.

"I don't think so." A few guards jogged over and they exchanged a brief word before one grabbed Sydney and they dragged us away from the parade, towards the building left of the palace.

"Get your hands away from her," said an icy voice I realised belonged to Adrian. His eyes were narrowed and he looked pissed off, standing in front of the guard holding Sydney. Although the other man outweighed him by about fifty pounds, and probably had fifteen, twenty years on him, Adrian managed to look intimidating.

"L..Lord Ishkavov?" The man stammered. Adrian smiled grimly. I frowned.

"You never told me you were a lord. The whole stuck up whiny bastard thing makes so much more sense now." Adrian smiled grimly.

"Cheers, Mazur."

"Come on," Dimitri growled, dragging me away.

"You're just jealous because you're a stuck up whiny bastard, but you aren't a lord," I grumbled, and could have sworn I felt him laugh.

"Oi. Belikov," yelled another voice. Lissa, accompanied by Mason. "What part of l_eave Rose alone or I will neuter _you didn't you quite understand?" She challenged. Dimitri gritted his teeth.

"The law is the law, princess. Would you like me to inform the authorities you are here?" He asked coldly. She paled a little.

"N-no," she stammered. Dimitri gave her a dangerous smile.

"Then I suggest Mr Ashford and yourself accompany me." A silent walk later we reached the guardhouse, and were put in separate cells, much to my protest. Dimitri only released his deathgrip on my arms once I was inside the small room, then turned to face me with a strange expression.

"You are going to regret this," I snapped. He smiled faintly.

"I don't think so. This is the most fun I've had in a long time."

"You need a life, then," I retorted. His smile faded as he stepped closer to me.

"I'm warning you, Rose," he said huskily. "Stay away tonight. Tomorrow morning, when they let you out, you need to disappear. Got it? Don't stick around, don't make a fuss." He met my eyes hesitantly, but tried to keep the firmness in his voice, but failed. "Understand?" He breathed, a completely new dimension in his tone, one I couldn't help but like very much. I don't know who moved in first, but suddenly we were standing very close.

"No." I whispered. "No, I'm going to stay here and cause all kinds of trouble for you," I said softly, but with a trademark smirk. He gave me one in return back, his eyes softening. This was the Dimitri away from expectations, away from the pressures and standards of the outside world, and I couldn't help but like him, a lot.

"You know," he said, his voice lowering a little, leaning in until his breath tickled my cheek, "I was really hoping you'd say that." He met my eyes and we smiled at the same time.

I will maintain to my dying day that he kissed me first.

* * *

The kiss was unlike any I'd ever had before. It was pure, raw, undiluted emotion, electricity so powerful I thought my blood might begin burning in my veins. Before I knew it, I was leaning up towards him, my arm around his neck. His hand was firmly cupping my cheek, kissing me gently but with a delicious intensity. But then suddenly, all too suddenly, it was gone, he was gone, breathing hard.

"That…"he cleared his throat. "That was a mistake." My head snapped up and I glared at him.

"You think I'm the insane one?" I growled. "You have fucking bipolar disorder, Dimitri Belikov."

"Maybe," he said calmly. "But you initiated it, you-"

"I did not!" I screeched. "That was all you, buddy. You started this. You're just not big enough to finish it!" I yelled.

"Why do you make everything so difficult?" He yelled back. "Why can't you just-just"

"Just what?" I spat. "Just go home and bake a cake? Pretend to be something I'm not, just like you?"

"You are impossible," he growled. "I don't even know why I am having this conversation with you. You," he spat, "are an ignorant, meddling woman and if you dare to come near me or my battalion ever again, I will see to it that your punishment fits all of your crimes," he snapped. My jaw slackened, stunned by his harsh words. How could someone go from so warm and soft to cold and harsh the next second? I was hurt more than belief by his words-words I feared might actually be true. I had been strong for so long, but to see him knock me back to viciously was not only disheartening but demeaning. Without another word, he turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him, the clanging, empty sound echoing in my heart. It wasn't even five minutes later when the door swung open and Lissa, Mason, Adrian and Sydney filed in. I wasn't even surprised- in actual fact, I thought they'd be sooner in picking the locks on their respective doors.

"Now that your little makeout session with Captain Loser is over," Adrian said sarcastically, "can we concentrate on the task at hand? Namely, ensuring the strigoi don't assassinate the queen." I averted my gaze, and blushed.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I muttered. Adrian's eyes widened.

"Wait, you kissed him?"

"He kissed me," I clarified. Adrian grinned.

"I was kidding, little lady. I thought all the banging and screaming was you guys having an argument, but I guess I was wrong." He waggled an eyebrow suggestively.

"Like you said, task at hand," I muttered, blushing red to the top of my ears.

"The main door is locked," Lissa said, gracefully saving me from further embarrassment. "We can't get out, we're pretty much stuck in here," she said anxiously.

"Perfect," I muttered. "That's perfect." I grinned, struck by a thought. "Don't you remember what the guards back home used to say? That our guard towers were modelled on these ones?" Lissa nodded, giving me a yeah-so-what look. I shook my head.

'The ones at home used to have shallow tunnels leading form the guardhouse into the town hall," I said slowly. "I bet you any money this guardhouse has similar tunnels."

"But they won't lead outside," Mason frowned. I nodded.

"No, they won't. I'd bet they lead right into-"

"-somewhere in the palace," Sydney finished for me. I nodded grimly.

"Exactly. Right where the attack is going to take place." I sighed loudly, rubbing the tiredness, the emotional and physical exhaustion from my eyes, looking up to survey me grinning friends. I cleared my throat and smirked, trying to get some of the badass-ness back into my attitude.

"Come on guys," I quipped, leading the way out of the door. "I believe we've got a queen to save."

* * *

**A lot happened in this chapter. Dimitri's still being a bumhead, they kissed, got thrown in jail and did quite a lot of yelling. I know this wasn't really a scene from Mulan but it sets up the next battle bit from Mulan quite nicely (or so I think). I promise that Eddie and Mason, along with Ivan and Captain Loser will all be in the next chapter. Seven chapters left, guys, it's starting to heat up! ;)) Review please!**

**Em xx**


	13. Chapter 13: The Dashkov Relevation

**I know this may be a little rushed, but it was originally supposed to be two chapters. I thought I'd be nice and combine them-plus I really need to finish this story off! Not long to go!**

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"Okay," I said as we spotted the guard at the other end of the tunnel. "We just have to convince him to let us through. No compulsion," I warned Lissa, who sighed.

"You think we're just going to talk to him? Ugh, boring."

"Hey!" The guard shouted, straightening up. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We're on a rescue mission for a rescue that hasn't happened yet," I said exasperatedly. "We're a part of that battalion out there." He rolled his eyes.

"Sure, lady."

"Look, you have to let us through," Lissa said sweetly. "I'm the Dragomir Princess." He snorted, then guffawed.

"Yeah, and I'm a prima ballerina. Get the hell out of here!" He roared, waving his sword within an inch of my nose. Suddenly, his eyes widened, then he groaned, slumping to the ground. I looked around to see Mason, grinning, wielding the baton that had been leaning up against the wall behind the guard.

"That's called dhampir compulsion," he said proudly, and led the way out of the tunnel.

* * *

"Rose," Adrian hissed as we crept through the hallways of the palace. I glared at him in irritation.

"What?"

This is useless. I groaned, knowing he was right. We had been in here for half an hour, and the place was a labyrinth, I swore we were going around in circles.

"We have to go back outside," Sydney said. "The Queen's due to make her appearance in five minutes-if they're here, they'll strike then." Mason nodded his agreement.

"Not _if_ they're here," Lissa said quietly. "They are here. Can't you feel the aura, Adrian?" He nodded.

"Yeah. I just can't figure out where it is coming from," he said in frustration.

"Come on," Mason said, making the snap decision. "Let's go outside again." As we stepped out a back passageway the crowd started to roar, and I guessed that she must have stepped out onto the balcony. We shoved through the crowd of cheering people and saw her, waving regally from the ornate balcony, two guardians on either side of her. All was going fell out of the sky, the earth didn't stop moving. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just the Queen honouring the bravery of a battalion.

But suddenly, to quickly to comprehend, something terrible happened. All of a sudden, a rain of arrows rushed through the air and I watched horror struck as she queen was knocked to the side by one of her guardians, who took an arrow flush in the chest. Everything happened very fast then. The second guardian turned in towards the room, ushering the queen back inside. As I watched, I grimaced. Bad. Fucking. Move. Never turn your back on a threat, I thought grimly, and with a sick stomach watched him take an arrow to the back. The crowd gasped as one as a dark shadow was seen grabbing the queen and hauling her inside, slamming the doors shut.

"Come on!" I roared to my friends and we took off back towards the kitchen doors, managing to get ourselves inside, but then with a sick stomach I realised what I had done as I heard voices enter the room-only two. They were strigoi, and they were barricading the door. Oh, brilliant. I had got the Dragomir princess locked inside a palace full of angry strigoi. Not a good idea, Rose, I yelled at myself as we all hunched behind a table, frozen in fear. I heard a banging on the other side of the door, and then a familiar voice.

"It's locked!" Dimitri yelled to Ivan. I guessed great minds thought alike-he knew they'd barricade the front doors first and had thus ran to a more unlikely place.

"They're going to try and hold the palace," Ivan said grimly. The strigoi laughed.

"Good luck trying to get in!" A female voice sang before the footsteps died away. As soon as we were sure that they did, I flew over to the door and un-barricaded it as softly as I could, and inched the door open. Dimitri's expression dropped, he closed his eyes momentarily.

"I don't even want to know," he muttered. "Get out of here."

"Where's the rest of the battalion?" I demanded.

"Trying the other entries," Eddie said from behind them- Christian was with them as well.

"And what, may I ask, was your master plan upon gaining entry to a strigoi infested palace?" I demanded again. Dimitri hesitated.

"None of your concern," he said coldly, which was Dimitri-speak for "_Haven't got a fucking clue_".

"You were just going to play it by ear?" I said exasperatedly, and Dimitri scoffed at me.

"Pretty much," Ivan said brightly.

"Shining stars of the empire, I'm sure," I muttered. "I've got a better idea."

"No thank you," Christian and Dimitri said in chorus. I glared.

"_You_r plan was just to get thus far and try not to get eaten alive. Pretty much anything's better than that. Come on," I said exasperatedly, flinging the door open and going outside again, some very confused people behind me. I tilted my head to look at the solid wooden beams that ran up the length of the walls, very similar to the one I had climbed using the two stakes so long ago.

"If we could get to the top, we could get into that window," Mason said with a grin, slapping me on the back and beginning to climb, along with Eddie. I faced Lissa.

"I suppose telling you to hide would be useless?" I sighed. She nodded cheerfully.

"Pretty much, yep." I rolled my eyes.

"You're going last, then."

"This is insanity," Dimitri hissed. "There must be another way. This is never going to work." That was the moment when my temper boiled over.

"Oh, shut up, you facetious bastard, you haven't got a better idea!" I roared, wrenching my stakes out. "Just climb the stupid wall or go get yourself killed in the kitchens. I don't care which you choose." With that, I began my own climb and didn't look to see if he was following. Climbing in through the window at the top, I spared a look and had to grin when I saw him about five feet behind me, with a "this is the most insane thing ever" expression on his face. I did a head count. There were nine of us against who the hell knew how many of them, and to be honest I didn't like our chances. But I knew that attacks like these were rarely by big groups- I estimated it was a band of thirty to forty of them. Even still…We crept along the hallway, estimating that the throne room was on level above us.

"We need to split up into two groups," I hissed. "One Moroi with each."

"Um, I didn't want to say this before," Christian said shamefacedly. "But I'm kind of a Moroi too. Just so you don't freak out if you see me start throwing fireballs." He grinned at Lissa. Dimitri was feigning deafness. I rolled my eyes.

"Good timing, Pyro. Okay, three groups, then."

"I'll go with Adrian and Sydney," Ivan said quite calmly, seeming to deal with the pressure quite well.

"Dibs on Christian with Eddie," Mason said cheerfully. Christian glared at him.

"I am not somebody to be called dibs on, asshole." Mason shrugged.

"I got dibs anyway." Mason smiled evilly at me. "Which leaves-"

"Lissa, him and me," I said sourly, cutting his fun off. "Very mature of you, Ashford. Now get your ass moving, would you?" Still snickering, we crept through the eerily-quiet hallways until my ears picked up the sound of talking in a large room. It was definetly them, and on the count of three, we bust in, stakes at the ready. We got the element of surprise over them-it was good we were all there, there were about eleven or twelve of them in that room, an uncommonly large number. The next few minutes were filed with blood and yelling and fighting, a few injuries sustained, but our upper hand had been the surprise tactic, and it had saved our lives. But it couldn't be that easy, could it? Noo. More strigoi bust into the room,, clearly hearing the rucus, and charged in as reinforcements. I could hear yelling from the levels down below and figured they'd been able to bust open the doors, or gone in through the one we left open, and our battalion plus the guards were now fighting the strigoi on the lower levels. I winced, receiving a hard blow from a male strigoi, and stumbled backwards into the wall. Behind me I saw Lissa and Sydney killing a strigoi together, and fireballs flying from a grinning Christian. Another blow whipped my head around before I heard a growl, and the strigoi crumbled to the ground. Dimitri smirked at me, pulling his stake from the dead body.

"I was getting there," I muttered, my cheeks reddening.

"Clearly," he drawled, a slight smile on his face. In my peripheral vision I saw a blurred figure barrelling towards him, and side-tackled him out of the way.

"Jeez, watch your back, idiot!" I yelled as we wrestled the strigoi to the ground and quickly finished the job, taking a moment to look around. Bodies littered the floor-thankfully, none of them were ours.

"Is everyone okay?" I said frantically. Sydney let out a cry and ran towards Adrian, who was grimacing, holding his chest.

"Oh no," I breathed.

"S'okay," he managed. "Not deep."

"I'll heal it," Lissa said immediately.

"No," he managed. "Don't. Save your magic, Liss. You're going to need it." Sydney ripped his shirt open and Adrian grinned hazily.

"I like it when you get rough, babe." Eddie and I mimed being sick.

"Clearly you're not dying if your sexual peversion is still intact," Sydney muttered, but fought a smile as she assessed the wound through trembling fingers. She exhaled.

"It's not deep. But it's still serious." I threw Mason an anxious look, we had to get him out of here. Everyone knew that the Ishkavov family was powerful, he would be a huge target, he needed to be hidden.

"Sydney, come with me," Ivan told her kindly. "We'll take him somewhere safe. The rest of you, go find the Queen." I turned to Lissa.

"Liss, I want you to go with them. Please, I'm begging you. Adrian might need you." She flickered with indecision.

"Liss, if the queen dies, they're going to need you," I begged her. "We're gonna need you save and alive." Determination flashed in her eyes.

"Okay," she whispered, and hugged me briefly.

"I'll see you soon," I said, swallowing hard, before she squeezed my shoulder and was gone, disappeared with Adrian, Sydney and Ivan down a hallway. The remaining five of us stepped over the dead bodies and climbed the staircase towards the throne room-the door of which was unsurprisingly locked.

"There aren't any windows on this level. What do we do?" I asked desperately, hearing the crowd screaming and panicking from outside. Christian snorted.

"Oh, please." He outstretched his hands towards the handles, and they twitched before the handles melted clean off, and with them the locks as well. We kicked the doors open and saw the Queen and three strigoi in one corner, plus another five strigoi prowling, all of whom immediately turned to us, launching themselves at us. These were the ancient strigoi- much faster and stronger than those on the levels before us. I saw Dimitri and Mason take down one strigoi but receive some crushing injuries. I only just narrowly escaped a slice of my own, a fast sidestep and a stab saving my life by a hair-rasingly narrow margin. Then I saw a figure from behind me and spun to take it on, gasping when I realised who it was.

"Get out of here, are you insane?" I yelled to Lissa, who shoved a strigoi away from Eddie's back and began dodging its blows.

"I Saw it," she shouted back. "Plus, you don't get rid of me that easy, baby." I rolled my eyes, my heart thundering.

"No!" I heard Mason cry as a Strigoi threw Eddie bodily against the wall where he crumpled, unconscious.

"Mason, watch your back!" I screamed, and he swung around just in time to deflect a killer blow, leaving me very shaken. The air cleared somewhat as Mason finished the kill, and I took in my surroundings. Three strigoi still surrounded the queen. Eddie was unconscious, Dimitri looked fine, Mason was injured but standing, Lissa was trembling next to me but unhurt.

"Step away from her," Dimitri said coldly. Suddenly, another strigoi stepped out of the shadows, one I recognised. It was Nathan, their leader. Nathan, who was supposed to be…dead?

"You're supposed to be dead," I blurted out, and he smiled coldly at me.

"It will take more than an avalanche to kill me, my dear." He bared his fangs, and I shuddered.

"You are going to die," I hissed, stepping towards him at the same time as Dimitri did. Suddenly I heard a scream from behind me, and turned to see another, taller strigoi with Lissa in a chokehold, a sight that made me sick to my stomach. But it was the face of the strigoi that shocked me. It was Victor Dashkov, the royal mentor and friend we had gotten to know so well. He had been turned Strigoi, and his red eyes glittered as his pale hands circled my best friend's throat.

"You!" I gasped. "You-how could you?" I yelled.

"Don't move a muscle, Rosemarie," he warned me coldly. "Or I'll squeeze the life out of her this second."

"Oh no you won't, bitch!" I roared, but as I charged for him, one of the other strigoi grabbed me, throwing me with inhuman strength against the opposite wall, winding me as painful back stars danced in my vision. By the time I recovered the fight had begun again in earnest-but now, two strigoi were guarding Lissa, one of which was fighting Mason whilst Dimitri and Christian were battling two others. I looked up and saw Nathan towering over me with a mocking grin, and bile rose in my throat. Thinking quickly, I kicked his legs out, hard, and shoved my stake towards his chest. He twisted, though, and it slid into his stomach, serving to stun and pain him, but it wouldn't kill him. Dimitri and Christian had managed to kill one of their two strigoi, so I took the opportunity while Nathan was stunned to try and find Lissa in the fray. My heart plummeted when I saw Mason take a blow to the head, then another one in the chest, and he fell to the ground. No. Not Mason. I could not let him die here. I would not let him die here.

"No!" I sobbed, running towards him, but Dashkov intercepted me and I had no choice but to fight him. It was a dead-even match-he matched me blow for blow, strength for strength, speed for speed, until I heard Lissa's voice, and lost concentration the tiniest bit. Next thing I knew I was on the ground, my own stake plunging down into my chest. Before it would end my life, Dashkov's midsection erupted into flames and he screamed in agony, and was no longer. Christian smirked, and offered me a hand.

"Okay, thanks," I grumbled. He grinned.

"Love you too, Rose."

"Rose!" Lissa screamed all of a sudden, and my head snapped to the other end of the room where I saw something that made my blood run cold. The other strigoi guard had Lissa up against the wall, and just as I began to sprint over I watched him sink his fangs into the side of her neck. He wanted to kill her, change her, it didn't matter. Lissa was a major obstacle to their plan. However, Lissa also just happened to be my best friend, and I happened to be extremely pissed off, so I launched myself at the feeding strigoi, ripping him away from her with Christian's help. I drove my stake clean through his heart, then rushed over to Lissa, whose eyes were fluttering.

"Liss, stay awake," I pleaded. She shook her head.

"Can't-tired-Rose," she whispered, and squeezed my hand.

"It's just a little blood. You'll be okay," I told her. The wounds were deeper than I'd hoped, but in his hurry to get to her he had just missed her artery. I ripped off half of my shirt and used it as a bandage around her neck, tying it there. Her eyes closed dreamily, and I prayed she would be okay.

"Stay with her," I ordered Christian, who needed no persuasion. As I turned I saw Dimitri on the balcony, finishing off the strigoi who had been covering the queen. As the strigoi fell, he slashed out wildly with his sword, catching Dimitri by surprise. The blow caught him in the shoulder deeply, making me grimace as pain flashed across his face and he stumbled. I crossed to him, rolling him onto his back.

"Comrade," I breathed. "Are-are you-"he shook his head.

"It's not serious," he said through gritted teeth, as his shirt turned a dark red colour and I stifled a gasp. His eyes widened, and he grabbed my shoulder.

"Roza, watch ou-" the sound of steel rushed through the air, and I felt the tip of a sword pressed against my back.

"Stand up, Rosemarie," said Nathan's silky voice.

"Or else?" I snapped, and Nathan chuckled. The blade was pointed towards Dimitri, and I stiffened, slowly rising to my feet. I watched hunger flash over the vampire's expression as he glanced down at the pool of blood Dimitri was lying in. I moved to stand between him and Dimitri, baring my teeth at him.

"You can feed from him over my dead body," I growled, my knuckles tightening on my stake. Nathan sighed.

"Little girl, it doesn't have to be this way. Why don't you join me?" He suggested silkily. "I could give you everything you'd ever want. Fame, power, respect, immortality. This doesn't have to come to a fight. You are far too talented to waste," he said softly. "I want you for my side."

"Yeah, sure," I snorted. "And I want a pony and strawberry ice-cream, but I don't always get what I want." Nathan sneered at me, glancing down at Dimitri.

"He hurt you, Rose. Why would you want to save him? Why do you care about him?" He taunted, and I sighed exasperatedly, raising my stake.

"Look, buddy, he's a pain in the ass, but he's my pain in the ass. You've caused enough death and damage here. Get away from us before the good Mister Ozera sets your zombie ass on fire!" I snarled. Nathan chuckled, but his eyes were cold.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Rose." He swung a sharp blow at me, causing me to stumble backwards and duck to avoid being stabbed. I leaned over the balcony and used it for support as I aimed a kick into his chest, and he groaned, staggering backwards. I went in again, and saw one of Christian's fireballs whizz past, just catching Nathan's shoulder, and he howled in pain. I felt pain as well as he slashed downwards at my shoulder, tearing open my shirt as warm blood spilled down the handle of my stake. With a final ferocious effort I brought my stake smashing down against his sword and twisted, my blow landing on his handle. The sword went clattering from his hands, but a punch quickly connected with my stomach all the same. Dimitri had managed to pull himself upright (Nathan didn't notice, he was too concentrated on killing me) and as Nathan swung around with another wild blow, our eyes met and it was as if we knew, instinctively, what we were going to do. I blocked the punch and drove my stake into the tiny opening at the same time Dimitri sent a punch soaring to his head. The strigoi crumpled, staggering from the force of our blows to lean over the balcony. The body teetered on the edge for a second before it fell over the edge with a sickening crunch to the ground below, and there was a deadly silence from the crowd as we took in our surroundings. Christian was cradling a semiconscious Lissa. I saw to my relief Mason stirring from unconsciousness. At that moment, Adrian and Ivan walked through the door, the former's injuries seeming healed. Adrian crossed quickly to Eddie and I saw spirit magic at his fingertips before the colour returned to Eddie's cheeks and he gave a half-concious groan. I turned to Dimitri, who was studying me with a strange expression.

"Are you okay?" We said at the same time, and both grinned a little. I inspected the cut down my arm, which would probably need stitching up. Other than that I had a gashed lip, some killer bruises and at least one broken rib. I had been lucky. Extremely lucky. All of a sudden, the people outside erupted into wild cheers, and I realised it was because someone had been brave enough to approach Nathan's body to determine he was dead. Then the crowd fell silent and hushed as a woman cleared her throat from behind me. I turned to see the Queen standing on the balcony looking pale and a little shaken, but miraculously unhurt. Her face was set in its usual severity, appraising me with the sharp green eyes she shared with Lissa. Her gaze made me flinch-it was so cold, so calculating, so severe. When she spoke, her voice was only quiet, yet reverberated around the entire room, the entire palace courtyard with a powerful kind of regalness than made even me want to bow my head or at least lower my eyes.

"Rosemarie Mazur," she intoned. My blood ran cold at the sound of my name, the name I hadn't heard spoken aloud to me in many, many months. This was it-the end of the adventure, the reality check. There was no going back now. It was time to face the music from the highest possible level. So I stuck my chin out, took another deep breath, and boldly lifted my eyes to hers.

* * *

**If you have a minute to do something fun, leave me a review to say what your favourite line from this chapter was, it would be cool ;)**

**Em xx**


	14. Chapter 14: Far From A Fairytale

**Reviews are always much appreciated…Tell me what you thought?!**

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A silence had fallen over the watchful crowd. I felt my friends move behind me, knowing they were standing behind me, watching what was happening. Every muscle in my body was coiled-but to fight or run away, I had no idea. But this wasn't something I could run from anymore. Not something I could fight. Not something I should have to fight, I realised. Whatever happened now, I had proven to myself I was worth more than I or anyone else had ever believed. I had the love of my friends and respect for myself. Whatever good came next would be a bonus, whatever bad was to come I could handle as it happened.

"Rosemarie Mazur," the queen said quietly. "You have broken innumerable laws of this empire. Theft, forgery, deception, insubordinance, to name a few," she continued, and I flinched, the beginning of anger stirring in my gut. "These rules are in place for good reason. To keep order, to ensure everything remains stable. But-"she smiled a little at me. "But sometimes, the only way to have peace is to have a little chaos beforehand. You and your comrades have acted bravely today, and everyone here knows that if not for you, this day would have ended very differently. On behalf of the empire, and personally, I thank you," she told me with a half-smile, and the crowd in front of us erupted into cheers. Whilst they did, the queen stepped towards me, and drew a slim ring from one of her fingers.

"I understand your actions may be received with apathy from some," she said quietly. "This is the Champions ring, to be given to a person who displays the utmost courage and kindness. In all my years, I have never found anyone worthy of it, but now I would like you to carry it." She pressed it into me hand, and I accepted it, a little numb with shock and overcome with emotion.

"Thank you," I whispered, and she smiled back at me.

"No, Miss Mazur. Thank you. Now, where is that niece of mine?" The crowd hushed as Lissa stepped out onto the balcony, trepidation in her eyes. I had never thought of Lissa as royalty, but today there was something different about her. There was a fire in her eyes, a strength in the graceful way she held herself that made me proud of her.

"Vasalissa," the queen said, her voice reverberating around the courtyard, and she paused for a moment, as if pondering her words. "Your name, in the old language, has a beautiful meaning. It embodies a gracefulness of spirit, a kindness and sweetness of the heart, a willingness to please." The queen paused again. "But names are not everything, and you have proven that." My eyes widened, unsure whether that was a compliment or an insult. If it was the latter, I was taking the queen down, hell to the consequences. Lissa had come too far, done too much to be shot down and humiliated.

"Your actions have been far from sweet. You have been far from willing to please. And that, I believe, is what will make you great," she told Lissa. "You have a fire in your eyes that will light up this empire in times of darkness. I thank you for that." The roar of the crowd was almost deafening as Lissa's face split into a smile, exchanging words with Tatiana I couldn't hear amid the cheering and screaming.

"Ow, Ow, Ow," I muttered, backing back into the room, away from the balcony, to bump into Ivan, who was watching the proceedings with an amused smirk.

"Shouldn't there be guardians out there with them?" I asked, and Ivan rolled his eyes.

"Look around, Mazur. There aren't strigoi within a thousand miles game to come near you, or anyone, for that matter." I grinned.

"Yeah, I guess we did well." He grinned.

"Understatement of the century, but true. Look, they want us out there again." My friends and I crowded the balcony, and any further words anyone was going to say were drowned out in the cheering and clapping. It was more than a little surreal, I thought, as I looked down at the city below. I had achieved something I had always been told I could never do. I had made a difference in something far bigger than me, I thought as my fingers found the ring the queen had given me.

"Well, there's only one thing left to do," the Queen said, smiling now, and glanced at Lissa. "I think there's a celebration in order."

* * *

"You nearly ready?" I asked Liss. She nodded, slinging her saddle onto Flossie.

"Yep, I'm good."

"I can't believe she's letting you leave, I commented." Lissa grinned.

"I have you. And we did just kick some major strigoi ass a day ago." I laughed.

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that," I drawled. In the background I could hear the celebrations still continuing- it was daybreak, but the parties were still going on. We had said goodbye to all our friends with assurances we would see them soon-but we had agreed that we wanted to go back home for a while. Both of our futures were uncertain. Home would be a good place to figure out how we would go on. Besides, to be honest, I was exhausted. Physically I was drained, but the emotional and mental toll the past week or so had taken on me was twice as crippling.

"Bye, court," Lissa said softly. "I'm sure I'll see you again soon." We stood there for a minute, just looking at the palace, the buildings, the people. It wasn't exactly a happily-ever-after- ending, but hey, we had never wanted that, and the story had been far from a fairytale.

"You okay?" Lissa asked. I sighed.

"Yeah, I'm okay. C'mon, let's get out of here." As I was about to swing into the saddle, I heard a clattering of feet behind me.

"Rose?" Asked a familiar voice, slightly out of breath, and I turned to see Dimitri standing a few meters away, looking confused. My stomach turned at the sight of him, our gazes locking for a moment. I glanced at Lissa.

"I'll meet you at the gates." Lissa nodded.

"Okie-dokie. And my threat still applies," she told Dimitri bluntly, before clicking to flossie and trotting off.

"You're…You're leaving, he frowned." I shrugged.

"Yeah, what of it? Isn't that what you wanted all along?" I said bitterly. He flinched.

"Rose-I'm"-he shook his head, pausing. "Look, do you have to leave?" He said desperately, looking...torn.

"Yeah, I think I do," I said quietly. He swallowed hard.

"I can't stop you," he muttered. "But I just came here to say-"I shook my head, cutting him off. I didn't want to listen to him. I was too exhausted to think about it, I was too exhausted to deal with him and the hurt he'd caused me.

"No, Dimitri," I said wearily. "Please, don't say anything." I swung up onto Finn, throwing my cloak over my shoulders, steeling myself for what had to happen.

"Goodbye," I said flatly. His eyes widened, and he stepped in front of Finn, whose ears flattened to the back of his skull, and he bared his teeth. Dimitri was undeterred, and took a deep breath.

"I wanted to say-"he started, but I waved him away, a few strange tears in my eyes.

"You've said enough," I told him quietly. With that, I did exactly what he had done to me, when I had wanted him to understand, when I had needed him most.

I turned my back and walked away, a single, lone tear tracking down my cheek. Not that he would know, or care.

* * *

**DPOV**

I watched her go, rooted to the ground, gritting my teeth so hard it hurt. I felt a hand clap on my shoulder, and realised it was Ivan, who looked solemn-faced.

"I don't want to let her go," I choked out, feeling an alien emotion inside of me. It was painful-like half of me was leaving with her.

"I want her to stay. But I want her to be happy," I mumbled, looking up at my friend. "What do I do?" I asked desperately, and he sighed, the both of us watching the two figures disappear into the sunset.

"You let her go," he said simply. Another figure appeared, one I recognised immediately with a flip of my stomach. Ambrose, the Seer was smiling faintly at me, also looking on at the fading shadows.

"Remarkable women," he commented. "Perhaps you should have listened to me, Belikov," he suggested. I groaned, burying my face in my hands.

"God, what have I done? Could I have changed it?" I asked him, already half-knowing the answer.

"Yes," he said simply. "But you wouldn't have." We stood in silence for a few minutes before Ambrose sighed, turning towards me.

"You cannot change the past," he told me heavily. "But what you do with your future is up to you, with or without her."

"What do I do?" I asked one more time, watching the figure get smaller and smaller. "I could probably-If I got my horse-I could-"Ambrose shook his head, sighing.

"She has her own path to follow. You must let her go," he said meaningfully, then faded away.

"I'll be around, when you're ready," Ivan told me, then left as well. I strained my eyes out towards the horizon, struggling to see her, afraid I might have let her slip away. But that was what I had to do. I stopped searching for her, studying the landscape where somewhere, she was going away, every second getting further away. She was out there somewhere, but I couldn't see her anymore. She had somehow become, once again, just a dream, a confusing, sad, joyful dream-at once the most real and unreal person I had ever met. But I had made a stupid choice, and now I would have to live with the consequences. I knew I would see her again, she was far too extraordinary to simply slip back into the background, but even so, I knew I had lost her just as I had found her.

And before I could help it, a single, lone tear tracked down my cheek as I scanned the horizon for a trace of her. Not that she would know, or care.

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**So! That was far from the happy ending many of you were probably expecting, but after all, this is no ordinary fairytale ;) And it's not quite the end, four chapters to go, so hang in there with me!**

**Em xx**


	15. Chapter 15:Exploding Chickens&A Surprise

I combined two chapters int one again because I want this finished within the week…Please tell me what you thought! Let's see if we can hit 100 reviews with this chapter!

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**TWO MONTHS LATER**

I glared at my best friend with a mix of irritation and amusement.

"Jesus Christ, Lissa. Do you have a personal vendetta against every chicken in the entire world?" I asked, exasperated, as I looked at the mass of feathers, slightly steaming, that was all that was left of the chicken. She shrugged.

"One time, a really horrible chicken chased me up a tree." I rolled my eyes. So that was her justification. We didn't even know what happened to the poor animals, they just exploded and disappeared. I looked around at the ten or twelve very wide-eyed girls staring at the place where the chicken had disappeared. They ranged in age from about ten to sixteen, but I was pretty sure that none of them had ever seen that done before.

"Moral of the story, don't annoy her," I informed them. "Or she might do that to you."

"Rose," Lissa protested, just barely hiding a smile as the girls eyes widened again, looking at Lissa with a mix of terror and admiration.

"I wouldn't do that," she said with sincerity, and to their credit, none of the girls looked convinced. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, okay, I'm out." I backed away, leaving Lissa to talk to the girls, smiling as I walked back outside. A lot had happened in the past two months, I mused, leaning back into the cool spring sunshine, thinking about what had gone on…

* * *

_We arrived back in town within about a week of our departure from court. My parents had been absolutely ecstatic to see me, and needless to say, much crying, screaming and hugging had ensued when they'd seen me. My relationship with them had never been better. For the most part, we were welcomed back with open arms as heroes. I guess something about being the heir to the throne or having a priceless trinket from the queen around your neck makes some people change their tune, _I thought with a chuckle, my hand absent-mindedly going under my shirt to pull out the ring, which I'd put on a slender little silver chain, mostly tucked away from sight._ I was proud of what we had done, but I wasn't about to brag. So anyway, after a week or two of resting and being back with our families, Lissa and I had had a long conversation about what we each wanted, what we thought we could achieve. I mean, we were pretty confident in our abilities, having taken down a strigoi army not so long ago, but what we had been thinking of doing was a big gamble. Naturally, we'd taken it, and with the help of Jill and her friend Mia, we'd done the impossible. We'd opened up a school for girls._

_And I don't mean another freaking finishing school, you should know better than to think that. I mean a real school, like the one the boys got. Lissa and Jill had taken on the Moroi girls and were beginning to teach them the basics of defensive and offensive magic, whilst I was spending my time teaching young, rebellious damphir girls like me how to handle a sword and a bow, assisted by a young but enthusiastic Mia. It was an informal school to be honest; we started at about nine in the morning and went till three in the afternoon. But I had to admit, I loved doing it. I loved seeing these girls realise their potential, just like I had realised mine. There was talk of the Queen changing the decree and allowing girls to fight in the army-bit late for that, I had thought-but I knew that wouldn't happen for a while. Lissa wasn't sure how she wanted to go about being the whole heir to the throne- whilst she was determined to stay here and keep doing what she was doing, she also wanted to have a stronger focus on the court politics, mainly about getting that all-important decree passed. I would also catch her chewing her lip sometimes, a faraway look in her eyes, and knew without a doubt she was thinking about Christian, even though she denied it to the point of hilarity. I, on the other hand, had thrown myself into my new task deeply, trying to leave myself little time to think about what had happened when we left court. But it never worked. My thoughts would slip back to it, and then before I knew it, I'd be thinking about him. _I gritted my teeth. I could not get him out of my head, no matter how hard I tried. I'd catch myself saying things to the girls that he'd said to me. My thoughts, which I usually tried to keep in tight check, would sometimes wander to that terrible, terrifying kiss that had so thoroughly stunned me._ I wanted to hold onto it, never, ever forget it, even if he denied it, said it was a mistake, that it never should have happened. But it had happened, we both knew it. The memory was burned into the back of my mind, where it would stay forever. And call me selfish, weak, whatever, but I never wanted it to go away._

* * *

Two days later, I was teaching a class of twelve year olds, vainly trying to distract them from the exploding noises that were going on inside coming from their Moroi counterparts- and perhaps more disturbing, the cackling coming from the very evil princess. I groaned as I stood, motioning them to stand as well.

"Okay, guys. I think the only way for you to actually grasp this concept is to try it." With a feeling I'd regret it later, I passed out some lightweight wooden sticks, not missing the gleam of vengeance in a few eyes as they eyed up who they wanted revenge on for earlier injuries. I decided to ignore it, and prayed to every deity I'd ever heard of that everyone survived the next hour in one piece.

"Pair up with somebody about as tall as you, I told them," and quickly, giggling, they did.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath and trying for a stern voice. "Now, you are to practice the high and low strikes and blocks we were learning about yesterday. Absolutely no physical contact…yet," I emphasized. "Unless you know how to hit with proper technique, don't waste your time trying to someone." I few grumbles came out, but for the most part they looked happy, and I watched, smiling, as they practices their new skills. It was remarkable how quickly they had come on- they were almost surpassing their male peers. I suspected that it was because this was a novelty to them-an opportunity, not something they'd ever taken for granted. And because of that, they were eating up everything I threw at them. I wasn't brave enough for actual target practice yet, or anything involving sharp edges, but if their progress unarmed and with the sticks was anything to go from, they'd be a force to be reckoned with once they were old enough.

"This is hard," a red-haired girl who had long since become one of my favorites for her no-bullshit attitude complained, seeming to voice the opinions of the entire group.

"I know," I said firmly. "But this is how you learn." She frowned at me.

"But if you're teaching us to hit stuff, and we're not actually allowed to hit stuff, how does not hitting stuff help us learn?" She asked with a smirk and the kind of evil-genius logic that frustrated me. I let out a sigh.

"Don't expect to fly before you can walk. The more practice you do with those, the better you'll be when you get to put blows on each other and use swords. It's not going to be easy, but it will be worth it," I promised them. They nodded, seeming like they accepted this explanation, and I would have moved in to the next thing-jabs and footwork-had a voice not broken the short pause in between my sentences.

"Well said, Mazur," a familiar voice drawled, causing me to spin around at the speed of light. I knew that voice. It belonged to the only person capable of turning my blood to both ice and fire, the only person who could see me for who I truly was.

Dimitri Belikov was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest, a slight smile on his face. My eyes widened. He was here. What the hell was he doing here? In that moment, I neither knew nor cared. Slowly, I forced myself to meet the scorching gaze that could have belonged to the devil himself, his dark eyes staring intently, intensely, into mine.

"Hello, Roza," he murmured.

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**Yes, yes, I know they weren't apart for very long (well two months in the story but only one chapter in real life) but I didn't want to give you guys a filler chapter so I rushed it a bit…Anyway! Do leave a review ;)**

**Em xx**


	16. Chapter 16: A Fighting Chance

**So we reached 101 reviews, which made me really happy. Here it is…I hope you guys like it!**

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I froze, staring at him, my thoughts spinning. A million emotions threatened to explode out of me, but somehow, I managed to take a deep breath and hold them all in.

"Dimitri Belikov," I said, hoping my voice sounded appropriately indifferent. "We meet again." He smirked back at me. "Did you have a reason for interrupting my class, or are you just being obnoxious?" I snapped, and he raised an eyebrow, clearly searching for a response. I grinned.

"Yeah, I thought so. You'll have to excuse me," I said coldly, and he flinched, but looked determined.

"I'll wait," he said quietly. "I'll wait forever if I have to," he said, in a voice so low that only I could hear. I narrowed my eyes at him, trying not to show how much those words affected me, and turned my back, but groaned when I realised he had stolen the class's attention. Their eyes were riveted to him, and I debated whether to crack them on the head with a pole to get them to wake up again. Deciding, after a moment of conflict, not to do that, I waved my hands in front of their eyes.

"Oi! Wake up, we were working," I said sternly, and a few of them showed encouraging signs of life.

"Who was that?" One of the younger girls breathed. I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my water bottle, taking a swig. I decided not to grace that question with an answer, mostly as the "he" in question was still listening.

"He looked like a prince," somebody else said in awe, causing me to inhale a mouthful of water and then spit it out, spluttering, on the ground. I didn't miss the quiet chuckle from behind me, but forced myself not to look.

"Yeah, well, he acts like a frog," I said, loud enough for him to hear. Alyssa, the redhead in the front row, straightened up, fixing me with a somewhat evil gaze.

"Rose, did you say… _Belikov_?" She asked sweetly.

"Yes," I said slowly, wondering where this was going a little uneasily.

"Wasn't he your mentor?" She said with a smile, and I scowled back at her, shifting uncomfortably.

"I guess so…Is there a point to this?" I asked her, and she gave me a wicked grin.

"Well, I was just wondering…Maybe you could fight him," she suggested, to a huge _"ooooh"_ from my class. Her eyes twinkled less-than-innocently. "Show us how it's done?" I glared at her, but the damage was already done.

"I think that's-"

"-An excellent idea," Lissa interrupted me, and I swung around. Her arms were crossed, surrounded by a flock of children, and she was eyeing Dimitri up coolly.

"Princess," Dimitri said politely, and bowed. Lissa ignored it, and smiled at me.

"Go on Rose, you heard Alyssa. It's a great idea. And we can always help you out. We've been practicing offensive techniques," she said pleasantly to Dimitri. "You know, exploding chickens. It's really not that different from exploding people's heads," she said sweetly, and Dimitri took a step back from my best friend. I grinned at the sight, but then groaned when I realised that there was no way I was getting out of here without a fight with my dignity still intact. Not that that was really such a big issue, I'd been spoiling for a fight with him. The addition of weapons was a big plus, I reasoned, shooing the girls away from the sparring mats. He shed his riding cloak quickly, a gleam in his eyes. I passed him one of the heavier poles-I knew we would probably break the lighter ones-and smirked.

"Let's get down to business, comrade," I drawled. The irony of my words, which had once been his, was not lost on him, and he smiled slightly, never taking his eyes off me. We fell into step with each other, circling, testing the waters warily. We knew each other's moves and tactics so well it was almost like fighting against yourself. I knew he was waiting for me to make the first move, and after a minute of circling, decided to make it. I struck out with a blow to his side and he went to block it, realising far too late it had been a feign. My stick made a satisfying cracking noise to his thigh, which I knew hurt like a bitch, but to his credit he remained expressionless. He aimed a low blow to my legs, I saw it slightly late and jumped, just catching my foot on it, and I stumbled. As I fell I sent a solid blow to his stomach, trying to distract him while I recovered, and to my relief it worked. After that, the blows became thicker and faster until the sticks were blurring, our eyes locked into each other.

It was almost like a dance- a deadly, fast, exhilarating, complicated dance, where one wrong move could mean defeat or victory. On and on it went and I was aware of our spectators eventually sitting down, realising it was going to be a long fight. It was a dead even match-our strengths and weaknesses were so evenly matched. He was stronger than me, but I was faster. My movements were explosive, his calmly thought out in sequence. We were each as unpredictable as the other, never allowing the other to gain the upper hand. Dimitri swung around, with a blow that I blocked with a twist of my wrist, and the edge of his weapon connected with the edge of my shoulder instead, just enough for me to lose my balance slightly. He struck out again in the opposite direction and I lunged to block, hating I was on the defence all of a sudden, and realised too late he had feigned. I felt the pole whack me across the shoulder blades and bit back a curse, turning around as I stumbled to blow another, powerful blow. It came crashing down on my stick snapping my weapon clean in two, and this time I swore out loud, but decided I'd flight him until one of us won or was knocked out.

There was a glint to his eye I recognised very well- the same glint that was there as he delivered a death blow, right before he was about to win. But I knew from experience that that was when he was most predictable. I sprung back up onto my feet and instead of backing away like he was trying to make me do, I ran towards him. The moment of surprise I gained was just enough to drive the remnants of my weapon solidly into his side, but as he fell he grabbed my shirt, bringing me down with him. We fell to the floor with a crash, wrestling for a moment before I managed-just-to pin him down, holding the pole over his throat and using most of my body weight to hold him there.

"Yield," I hissed, and he nodded, throwing his own weapon a few feet in acknowledgement of my win.

"Happily," he murmured, his gaze catching mine, and for a second I found myself a little bit lost in his eyes, but not before he arched an eyebrow and cleared his throat.

"Um-Rose-I yielded," he stated, a little smirk on his face. My eyes widened when I realised I was still pretty much sitting on top of him, and clambered off as quickly as my tired limbs would allow. A loud smattering of applause greeted us as we stood, both trying to catch our breath. Lissa raised an eyebrow at me with an expression that said _"we are so talking about this later_" and I decided, probably wisely, to ignore it, turning to address my class- in particular, a grinning Alyssa.

"There you have it, wise guy," I told her with affection. "A real life fight. Remember, what happens in here-"

"Stays in here," they chorused, and with a few healthy eye-rolls and high-fives, they departed.

"No head exploding necessary?" Lissa asked me.

"Not today," I told her, much to the disappointment of her class and the relief of Dimitri.

"I'm going to go clean up," Lissa told me, then gave Dimitri the fakest smile I'd ever seen. "I can explode heads through walls, too," she informed him not-so-discreetly, and then walked back inside. For a moment I didn't want to face him, but then realised I probably had no choice, and my curiosity took over my reluctance.

"Okay, Dimitri," I sighed. "What are you doing here?" He frowned for a second, looking uncomfortable.

"Could we…go for a walk?" He asked, and I nodded, glad for something to do. The silence took over again as we started to walk through town, gaining a few curious stares as we went.

"So, Rose," Dimitri said, breaking the silence, but I held up a hand, hearing a familiar shrill voice yelling in the not-so-distant-distance.

"Hang on a moment. Let's go this way," I muttered, dragging him down a different street. He paused, with a frown, trying to listen to the yelling.

"I've had enough of it!" The woman's voice screamed. "Chickens-fighting-explosions-impudence-_MAZUR_!" The voice bawled, and Dimitri looked at me in amusement.

"Can we go this way?" He asked, indicating to where the voice had come from. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you," I sighed. As we rounded the corner, a familiar thin black shadow flew at me, and I sidestepped out of habit. I wondered absent-mindedly what I had done this time, then remembered her house backed onto the grounds where we were running the school.

"How dare you show your face here!" The matchmaker screeched at me, lunging for my hair, but I pushed her away. "Shame-dishonour-impudence! You will never have a husband!" She yelled at me, shaking and nearly purple with rage. Suddenly, however, she noticed Dimitri, and her demeanour changed completely. She straightened out, plastering a smile on her face and simpering at a bewildered-looking Dimitri.

"Miss Mazur, you neglected to introduce me. I didn't know you were engaged," she said sweetly, fluttering her (fake) eyelashes at Dimitri. For the second time that day I choked on air, my eyes widening.

"I'm-not-engaged," I managed between coughs, glancing at Dimitri, who looked a bit pale himself.

"You must come over for tea," she told me, still making eyes at a now-terrified looking Dimitri. I straightened up, glaring at her.

"You know what? I'd rather wipe strigoi ass all day. Later, Kirivoa," I advised her, leaving her behind doing an excellent goldfish impersonation.

"What the hell was that?" Dimitri asked, wide-eyed.

"That was the Matchmaker." Dimitri laughed.

"That makes sense. I've heard the legends of you and her."

"Already?" I sighed as we turned up the path that lead to my house, and before I knew it, I found myself standing in the garden with him, under the blossoming trees, so near to the pond I had sat near the day I'd hear that war was coming.

"Look, Dimitri…This wasn't a social visit, so…What do you want?" I asked honestly.

"I want to apologise," he told me sincerely. "Rose, the things I said, the things I did…they were hurtful and entirely not true," he told me. "I've been brought up for so many years with that mindset…you flipped everything I knew on its head," he said quietly. "And I'm so glad you did, he told me truthfully." I nodded, staring down at the ground.

"But-why didn't you say that before I left?" I asked. "Why did you wait two entire months to tell me?" I asked, exasperated. He hesitated.

"I…I didn't know what to think. I know I was a complete ass," he said bluntly, which drew a smile out of me.

"Yeah, I guess." He shifted uncomfortably.

"Look, Rose, I know you probably don't want anything to do with me, but…I just wanted to tell you I…I care a lot about you," he said, running a hand through his hair, and groaned. "That sounded so much better in my head," he muttered, and I bit my lip to stop a laugh, tingling a little at his admission.

"It always does," I said dryly. He nodded, averting his gaze. I felt slightly sorry for him for some strange reason. I knew in my heart he was not a bad person. He had simply been brought up not questioning the rules, no room for disobedience, only discipline. But he was starting to show his true colours, he was starting to stand up for himself and be true to what he belived in. And because of that, I didn't want to crush him, no matter how many sleepless nights I'd endured because of it. Who was I to judge? Who was I to tell him what he should and should be, feel, or act like? He was a determined, loyal, kind person. And because of that, he deserved the most valuable thing in the world- exactly what he had given me-a fighting chance to prove himself. There was silence for a moment. I took a deep breath, trying to control my voice.

"For what it's worth…I feel the same way," I told him, feeling a slight blush stain my cheeks. He turned to me, his eyes lighting up all of a sudden.

"Really?" He breathed, and I nodded.

"Yeah. Really," I said quietly. Suddenly we were a lot closer, and it was all of a sudden difficult to catch my breath.

"You know…your secret, it doesn't change anything," he breathed. "You're still the craziest person I know." I grinned.

"Yeah, well, you're still an ass." And with that, I did what I'd always wanted to do, leaning up to tangle my hands in his hair, and kissed him, hard. To hell with the consequences. He didn't hesitate, and I felt his arms come crashing around me, pulling me closer to him. And it was…well, magical.

"Just so you know," he murmured between kisses, his breath tickling my cheek. "I think I love you, Roza."

"Yeah," I said breathlessly. "I've kind of been trying to tell you the same thing for a while." I felt happier than I had in a long time, fuller, like a part of me that had been missing was now found. But then the insecurities, the fear, hit me hard, and I tensed against him. This smelled like a happy ending-exactly what I'd been trying to avoid. We broke apart, and I felt his hand cupping my cheek, looking at me with concerned eyes.

"I-I can't do this," I muttered.

"Do what?" He asked, a frown starting on his face. I shook my head, my chest tightening.

"This isn't the way I want it to end. I-I need more than this," I said honestly. He looked at me quizzacly.

"What do you mean?" He asked. I swallowed hard.

"I won't be your princess, Dimitri," I said quietly. "I've done too much for that." He grinned at me placing a kiss on my cheek.

"I never asked you to be," he murmured. "I love you, Roza. The fierce, smart, independent woman you are. Nothing more or less." He grinned slyly again. "But I came for another reason," he said, just hiding a smile. I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" I asked playfully. He nodded, his expression suddenly serious.

"Yes. To issue you with this," he said, drawing a piece of parchment from his pocket and handing it to me. I broke the wax seal and frowned at the writing inside, trying to make sense of it.

"This…this is a letter of summons," I said, confused. "From the army." He smirked at me.

"Hero or not, Mazur, a two-month absence from your battalion is unacceptable. But I believe you'll be forgiven."

"They…they want me back," I breathed, comprehending the enormity of this situation. "Why? War's over." He shrugged.

"Few more strigoi rebel groups, mainly near court."

"What if I didn't want to?" I said, frowning. He laughed.

"Well, I could always make you…but we both know how that turns out."

"You on the ground in pain?" I supplied. He grinned.

"Exactly."

"What about Lissa?" He nodded, smiling at me.

"Tatiana's asked for her to come back to court. She can make up her mind whether or not to rejoin. There's a big base about a mile from court, that's where we've been reassigned to." I bit my lip. This was all happening really fast. One minute I had just about settled back into a routine, the next a whole new chapter of prospective uncertainty was looming ahead. But not as a secretive, almost shameful thing. It was an adventure in itself-but not one I had to be someone else in order to embark upon. And what about the school? It was just getting up on its feet, I couldn't leave it now. Dimitri seemed to sense my thoughts, and squeezed my hand.

"We really want you back, you know," he said quietly. "You can talk to Mikhail-the real one," he said, a hint of a smile on his face, and I smirked back-"and he'd probably let you come back here a week in every month," he shrugged.

"I-I've got to think about all of this," I told him, and he smiled.

"Of course."

"Are you leaving?" I asked, afraid all of a sudden. "To go back to the rest of them?" He shook his head at me ruefully.

"I told you. I'll wait forever if I have to," he breathed.

"Oh, can the cheese," I said in irritation, and he grinned back at me, but the serious meaning behind the corny words was still there. He looked around the garden thoughtfully.

"You have a beautiful home," he said quietly, as we sat and watched the dusk settle across the horizon. "But I can see why you had to leave."

"Ro-ose?" A voice called out from the kitchen, and I jumped.

"That's my mum." He blinked, shaking his head at himself.

"Of course. I should have met your parents, he said, sounding guilty." I rolled my eyes.

"Still so prim and proper, Belikov."

"I like to think of it as disciplined," he said, his voice heavy with amusement.

"I like to think of it as ancient," I retorted, but didn't mean it. We walked into the house where my mother was pulling a cake out of the oven, her eyes widening when she saw Dimitri. Introductions followed and on cue, my father walked in, and more introductions followed that, along with the usual perfectly serious death threats my father informed Dimitri he'd face. To which Dimitri replied, without missing a beat, that I was perfectly capable of looking after myself. This had been exactly the answer my dad had been looking for, and seeming pleased, asked Dimitri if he wanted to stay for dinner. So half an hour later I was sitting down at my kitchen table across from Dimitri and Lissa (my parents had long since started making extra portions in case Lissa or Mason dropped by). I had to rub my eyes. I never, ever thought this would happen. If somebody had told me three months ago that this would happen, I would have escorted them to the nearest mental asylum. Dimitri left about nine that night with the promise he'd be back at the school tomorrow to help me teach them, so by ten Lissa and I found ourselves sitting on my roof, gazing up at the stars as we thought about what we were going to do.

"You totally did it, didn't you?" Lissa asked suddenly. I frowned, wondering how she had arrived at that conclusion.

"_It_? Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself, Liss?" She giggled.

"No, stupid, not_ it_ it. Shows where your mind is at. I mean, you guys…fell in love," she said quietly.

"Excuse me while I throw up," I drawled, receiving an elbow in the ribs. "But…yeah, I guess I do love him," I admitted. "He annoys me and frustrates me and makes me question everything I know about myself, but I want to be with him, too," I said quietly. Lissa chuckled.

"Not exactly a romantic declaration of love, but hey, this is you we're talking about, so I'll take what I can get." We fell into silence, lost in thought, and then Lissa turned to me.

"Rose, what are you going to do?" She asked, then sighed. "Hell, what am I going to do?"

"Whatever makes you happy," I said simply. Lissa scowled at me.

"When did you get so cryptic?" I stuck my tongue out.

"Just do what feels right. And as for me…I think I know where my heart lies." Lissa nodded.

"So…we're decided?" She said, and I grinned.

"Yeah. I think so. Nothing's set in stone," I reminded her. "You can always change your mind." Lissa nodded, looking determined.

"Okay, then. I think we both know what we have to do."

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**So…What are they going to do? Some nice D/R moments in here. Dimitri's not being such an arse anymore, which is good. Please review!**

**Em xx**


	17. Chapter 17: A New Dawn, A New Horizon

** LAST CHAPTER, GUYS! PLEASE READ ALL THE WAY TO THE END FOR EPILOUGE AND IMPORTANT SEQUEL INFORMATION!**

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I clipped the last saddlebag to Finn's blanket and grinned at Lissa.

"I think that's it." She nodded in confirmation.

"Yep. We're set." We mounted, walking to meet Dimitri, who was waiting at the end of the road.

"Ready?" He asked me with a rare smile. I nodded, looking around the early morning marketplace. The dawn was just beginning to break over the hillside, it was going to be a beautiful day. The excitement was tangible in the air, making my heart race and my feet itch to be flying across the rough moorlands of the north. The iron gates swung open silently for us and Lissa looked sideways at me, remembering the last time we had slipped out of these gates. It seemed like a lifetime ago. So much had been done since then- we'd both learned a lot, done a whole lot of growing up, realised where our strengths and weaknesses and passions lay.

But now, our leaving was all the sweeter because it was not making a sacrifice. It was a decision we had made of free will, a decision that had not been made for us. Ultimately we had decided that our loyalty was not with our school right now. They say that those who can, do, and those who can't, teach. We were able to "do" still- there was so much yet to be done, the time for teaching would come later. As for me, I felt like I still didn't know enough to teach everything. We were young and inexperienced, but there was a whole horizon of possibilities waiting for us, should we choose to look for them. In any case, the school as something we'd established, but we were confident it would keep running without us there all the time. Jill and Mia would do a brilliant job of teaching, and I'd also asked my mum to join in. She had been so enthusiastic, it made me so happy to see her finding some meaning and purpose again.

Lissa's path was less clear than mine was at the moment- she wasn't sure whether she wanted to come back or not, and I knew that it was Christian who was holding her here. She knew she had responsibilities and she was really passionate about trying to change the law to let women fight in the army, but it would be hard for her to leave Christian and I. I knew we'd never be far away, but it was still bittersweet that we were growing up, finding our own paths, doing our own things. I guess that's a sacrifice you have to make to be happy. I would support her with whatever made her happy.

The town melted away behind us and it took about half an hour of companionable silence for us to clear the forest. As we turned a corner in the narrow, windy road, a huge cheer went up and I gasped, barely able to believe our eyes. There was our battalion, waiting for us, instead of at St. Vladimir's, a day or two away. I looked at Dimitri, and he grinned, giving me a shrug that said "wasn't my idea." We dismounted and immideately were surrounded by people. Mason drew me into a huge hug, thumping my back.

"I knew it!" He said triumphantly. "I knew you'd come back."

"You're too crazy not to," Sydney joined in. As I exchanged hugs with Eddie, Adrian and Sydney, I watched Lissa and Christian, who were having a quiet conversation off to one side. As we watched, they stepped closer to each other and, after a second of hesitation, she pulled him closer and kissed him, to a few wolf-whistles and some cheering.

"Not satisfied with your cups tea and knitting needles then, Mazur?" Said a deep voice from behind me. I spun.

"Ivan!" I said happily, and he grinned his welcome.

"You owe me, Ivan," Dimitri reminded him, and Ivan groaned, digging into his pocket for a coin and flipping it at his best friend.

"You had a bet on me?" I said dryly. Ivan shrugged.

"We had two bets," Ivan said, smirking at Dimitri, who scowled, and passed him back the money he'd just won. I raised my eyebrows curiously, but Dimitri reddened, and changed the subject.

"We should get going," he said instead, and soon after, eager to begin again, everyone was mounted again. I noticed Lissa and Christian holding hands, and smirked at her, giving Christian a 'good job bro" wink. He winked back. I caught Dimitri's eye, and he fell into step with me.

"What was your second bet?" I asked. He hesitated.

"That I loved you," he said simply. I bit my lip and smiled. We walked in silence for a few minutes, then, predictably, I groaned, breaking the prettiness of the moment.

"This smells like a happy ending," I sighed. He smirked.

"Out of curiosity, what exactly does a happy ending smell like?" I paused to consider that.

"Like marshmallows and sunshine," I frowned. "Like the dusty pages at the end of the storybook that everybody skips past because it's boring."

You are so weird, he muttered, and I reached over to smack him. He shook his head. "I agree with the happy part. But it isn't ending. It's only just beginning," he smiled. I nodded, knowing he was, just this once, probably right. I studied him, amazed at the changes that had taken place over the time I had known him. I didn't exactly know where we were headed together, but I did know that there would be challenges along the way. It wasn't going to be easy, but I had a feeling it was going to be worth it.

I think the most important thing I learned throughout our journey was that I'm capable of slaying my own dragons. That despite what everyone always told me, I'm smart enough, strong enough, to stand up for myself and make a difference. That I don't have to be the same as everyone else, that's I'm unique and I deserve to be happy. But what I also learned is the value of friendship. Before Lissa and I had started this crazy adventure, we didn't really have many other friends besides each other. Now, I looked around and could see so many people I loved, people that accepted me for who I was and would do anything for me, as I'd do anything for them. The people we'd met here could have hardly come from more different backgrounds- rich or poor, old or young-it didn't matter. Circumstance had brought us together, and we would stay together-but by choice. So yes, I learned I can slay my own dragons, but I've also learned that it's much more fun to tackle an adventure knowing there are people you can count on standing right next to you. Not behind you, letting you do all the work, not in front of you, protecting and shielding you from the danger, but right beside you. As equals. And that's the most important thing of all.

I glanced at Dimitri, catching his gaze, and couldn't resist a grin. The sun was shining, the skies were blue and full of possibility, and I was riding alongside him, towards who-knows what. But we'd tackle that when we got to it. For now, I decided just to enjoy the moment while we still had it, because knowing me, it wouldn't last long.

I gave Finn a little squeeze and, without needing much convincing, he sprung into a light, rollicking canter, quickly leaving the rest of the battalion behind. I heard Dimitri laugh behind me, and turned my head to look at my friends.

"C'mon, boys, let's go!" I called, deciding to give up resisting my smile. "Let's go find ourselves another kingdom to save!"

And that's exactly what we did.

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**EPILOUGE**

_Hidden in the dark depths of the wild southern moorlands, the icily beautiful Strigoi lowered her Seeing mirror with a hiss. She glanced around at her comrades- the few survivors the war had left behind. There were not many. A hundred at the most, and most were young, freshly-Awakened. Although they were strong, they were not wise, they were too eager for blood yet. They wouldn't last in a battle, but they would have to do. Anyway, she had plans to Awaken more in the very, very near future. Let the damphir scum think they had crushed the Strigoi. With time, they would become arrogant, and after that, her job would be easy. She glanced around, smiling as she saw the bodies of a few nearby villagers lying strewn on the muddy ground, their worthless bodies drained of blood. _

_"What did you see, Galina?" One of the older strigoi asked. Her features contorted. _

_"Nothing useful," she spat, her stomach twisting. They are together again-the ones who murdered Nathan. There was a growl from her companions. But not for long, Galina hissed. She turned her head to the skies, straining her eyes as if if she looked hard enough, she would be able to see her mate's murderers. _

_"Enjoy it while you can, little girl. I swear, Rosemarie Mazur, I will make sure you suffer." _

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It's over! Four months, 17 chapters and just under 40'000 words later, No Ordinary Fairytale is finally finished! If you've read and enjoyed this story, thank you. All I ask is that you leave me a review saying one thing you did and one thing you didn't like about this story. It would be very much appreciated ;)

**SEQUEL INFORMATION**

I won't be starting the sequel until I finish My Saving Grace. I'm also struggling to find time for Rosemarie Returns. It was really hard to have three fics on the go, I think I can only do one at once. SO TELL ME IN A REVIEW: After My Saving Grace finishes, would you rather see Rosemarie Returns finished, or the No Ordinary Fairytale Sequel? Please let me know!

Just to tease you a little, here's the summary for the sequel, working title "Not My Ever After"

_Sequel to No Ordinary Fairytale. Thanks to Rose and the gang, the strigoi army has been defeated. But uncertainty lies ahead as some return for revenge and new pressures threaten Rose and Dimitri's forbidden but blossoming relationship. Tragedy, love and unexpected changes may bring them closer together…or split them apart forever…_

**That's it from me! Don't forget to review!**

**Em xx**


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